Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protestors dancing, drumming and playing instruments near Mayor Bloomberg's apartment. [Video by Marc Beja - 20/11/11]

http://www.livestream.com/occupynyc

The New Terror Guy

We’re hearing from our sources that there’s a pretty embarrassing Day Two version of the story of this ‘lone wolf’ would-be Jihadi bomber that Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly announced this afternoon. In fact, one source familiar with the case tells our Ryan Reilly the FBI actually declined to take this case several times.

More soon.

Local Brisbane Solicitor Terry Fisher spoke at Occupy Brisbane this afternoon – this is what he said. ...

Occupy London ‘Repossesses’ Multi-Million Pound Bank Offices

- First building for the economic justice campaigners as they occupy third space in borough of Hackney, alongside existing spaces in the City of London and borough of Islington
- New ‘Bank of Ideas’ open to public this Saturday. Spaces will be available for those that have lost their nurseries, community centres and youth clubs due to Government spending cuts

Occupy London has taken over a huge abandoned office block in the borough of Hackney belonging to the investment bank UBS in a move it describes as a ‘public repossession.’ [1]

Overnight on Thursday, a dozen activists from Occupy London, campaigning for social and economic justice as part of the global fight for real democracy, gained access to the building and secured it, giving them a legal claim on the space.

The multimillion pound complex, which has been empty for several years, is the group’s third space and its first building, adding to its two camps at St Paul’s Courtyard – near the London Stock Exchange in the heart of the City – and at Finsbury Square (borough of Islington).

Occupy London supporter Jack Holburn said:

“Whilst over 9,000 families were kicked out of their homes in the last three months for failing to keep up mortgage payments – mostly due to the recession caused by the banks – UBS and others financial giants are sitting on massive abandoned properties.

“As banks repossess families’ homes, empty bank property needs to be repossessed by the public. Yesterday we learned that the Government has failed to create public value out of banking failure. We can do better. We hope this is the first in a wave of ‘public repossessions’ of property belonging to the companies that crashed the global economy.”

The Bank of Ideas The group say the space will be reopened on Saturday morning as the ‘Bank of Ideas.’ [2]

An events programme is being lined up, including talks from Palestinian activists, comedy from Josie Long and a session led by trader Alessio Rastani, who sent shockwaves through the media following a provocative interview on the Eurozone crisis. [3]

Sarah Layler of Occupy London added:

“The Bank of Ideas is an educational space where people will be able to trade in ideas and creativity rather than cash. We will also make space available for those that have lost their nurseries, community centres and youth clubs to savage Government spending cuts.”

The Bank of Ideas is a non-residential occupation – so visitors are asked not to bring their sleeping bags. The space will be free from drugs and alcohol from the start, as per Occupy London’s safer space policy. [4] ...

Two months ago, legendary hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons was one of the first high-profile public supporters to come to the Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan. Thursday morning, he was there again to speak to Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman.

"We don’t want Wall Street to control our future, and that’s why we’re on Wall Street. And what we’d like is for the people to control their future," Simmons said, describing the constitutional amendment he is supporting that would ban private donations for U.S. politicians running for federal office.

"We want to believe that the politicians are making decisions on the part of the people who elected them. And that’s what’s the flaw, fundamental flaw, in our democracy." [includes rush transcript]

AMY GOODMAN: Two months ago, legendary hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons was one of the first high-profile public supporters to come to the Occupy encampment at Zuccotti Park. Well, Thursday morning, he was there again.

RUSSELL SIMMONS: I’m Russell Simmons, and I’m here because I believe in the work that these people are doing. And this whole education process is really amazing. In such a short amount of time, so many people are talking about the inequalities. And two days ago, I introduced a constitutional amendment, written by a senior member of Congress. And we’ve got to wait until we have good bipartisan support for it, but the interesting thing about that amendment, it would never have been discussed, if not for the work that’s being done here.

AMY GOODMAN: What’s the constitutional amendment?

RUSSELL SIMMONS: Oh, it’s simple: get the money out of Washington. All of it. You know, and that’s a simple idea, and it makes perfect sense. And it’s what the core of everybody’s demand is down here, isn’t it? We don’t want Wall Street to control our future, and that’s why we’re on Wall Street. And what we’d like is for the people to control their future. We would—no Republican wants to send someone to Congress and know that they work for a pharmaceutical company and that’s why you don’t have healthcare. No Republican wants to believe—and there’s a discussion on how we go to war, what companies supported it, made it happen.

No Republican or Democrat wants to believe that the reason the prison-industrial complex is so successful and people are getting locked up for such long periods of time for such small crimes—no one wants to believe that the reason that they’re going to jail like that is because the prison-industrial complex paid the politician. No one wants to believe that jobs are offshore. No one wants to believe that my tax break is so big, that I get such big tax breaks, because we have influence, because the 1 percent can push the agenda. So, we want to believe that the politicians are making decisions on the part of the people who elected them. And that’s what’s the flaw, fundamental flaw, in our democracy.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think of yourself as one of the 1 percent who’s speaking out for the 99 percent?

RUSSELL SIMMONS: I think most of the 1 percent, whatever that means, most of the people who are considered the 1 percent, want America to be better. There’s a small percentage in this country who want to continue to pay off politicians. A politician should talk to people about business, maybe be educated on a business before he legislates on it, but the person who educates him should not be able to pay him. Just shouldn’t be able to pay him. That’s ridiculous. That’s the fundamental flaw in our democracy, and that has to stop.

AMY GOODMAN: And what about the Democrats? I mean, President Obama says they’re going to be raising a billion dollars for the campaign.

RUSSELL SIMMONS: Well, you know, everybody has to operate in the climate they’re in. And that’s the real problem. Even Republicans would all be more friendly to the people, and Democrats, as well, would be more friendly to the people, if the people were the people they had to report to. If they had to report to Wall Street in order to stay afloat—98 percent, or 96 percent, I think it is, of all elections are won by people who have the most money.

Ashlie Lauren Smith, an #occupier since Day 1, sings a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace during a tense moment at the #N17 Shut Down Wall Street protest.

Find her on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ashlielaurensmith

This is a movement. It was not started by me, but I am an avid supporter. You can get more info on MANA at: http://www.makeartnotapathy.com

Word on the street is that Bloomberg loves hippies. So now, finally, a drum circle you don't have to be high to enjoy: this Sunday at 2pm, for 24 hours, bring the love to Mayor Bloomberg's personal townhouse: 17 East 79th Street.

Tie-dye, didgeridoo, hackeysack welcome! No shirt, no shoes, no problem! And if you don't have talent, don't worry: FREE DRUM LESSONS offered!

Also on offer: collaborative drumming with the police!

Even though this is a 24-hour drum circle, don't be late! The mayor loves evictions. Who knows what'll happen? But no matter how long it lasts, there'll be an afterparty and love-in in world-famous Central Park just next door.

Please spread this announcement (www.yeslab.org/drumcircle) as far and fast as you can!

 

Occupy Perth, Protest Brookfield [18/11/11]

Juancole.com

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan let slip in an interview with the BBC that she had been on a conference call with the mayors of 18 cities about how to deal with the Occupy Wall Street movement. That is, municipal authorities appear to have been conspiring to deprive Americans of their first amendment rights to freedom of assembly and freedom to petition the government for redress of grievances.

Likewise, A Homeland Security official let it slip in a phone interview that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security had been strategizing with cities on how to shut down OWS protests. The FBI is said to have advised using zoning ordinances and curfew regulations, and to stage the crackdown with massive police force at a time when the press was not around to cover the crackdown.

Wonkette suggests that the PATRIOT Act is implicated here, but I’m not sure how that works. Actually the techniques discussed are standard for US police forces in dealing with peaceful protests (the only routine technique missing is that of putting saboteurs among the protesters who cause destruction and create an image of them as violent.

What these two reports show is a high-level conspiracy to deprive Americans of their constitutional right to protest peacefully.

When will we see Occupy Wall Street protesters hooded, dressed in orange jump suits, and sent to Guantanamo for military trials? When you let the government act without regard for the rule of law toward foreigners suspected of terrorism, you open yourself to be treated the same way if the rich decide to sic their police on you (it is mostly their police). This is why a rule of law has to be maintained. Anything less ratchets toward tyranny.

Juan Cole teaches Middle Eastern and South Asian history at the University of Michigan. His latest book, 'Engaging the Muslim World', is just out in a revised paperback edition from Palgrave Macmillan. He is also the author of 'Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East' (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). He has appeared widely on television, radio and on op-ed pages as a commentator on Middle East affairs, and has a regular column at Salon.com. He has written, edited, or translated 14 books and has authored 60 journal articles. His weblog on the contemporary Middle East is Informed Comment.

Occupy Portland Protesters joined N17 National Day of Action in solidarity with Occupy Wall street by occupying banks and bridges.

At 8am protesters held a rally on the east side of the Steel Bridge where 25 people were arrested in a peaceful sit-in action.

Throughout the day hundreds of Portlanders joined the in non-violent occupations across downtown of the Wells Fargo, Chase and Bank of America.

 

Five Misconceptions About Peak Oil

I recently attended the annual ASPO conference in Washington, D.C. This was only my 2nd ASPO conference; the other one I attended was in 2008 in Sacramento. There were many familiar faces, some of whom I had previously met and some I only knew by reputation. The mood seemed remarkably calmer than in 2008. That year, oil prices were just coming down from record highs, a pair of hurricanes were causing spot gasoline shortages, and the economy was headed into the toilet. The general mood was that things were rapidly unraveling. Three years later, the long-term outlook isn’t really any different, but I think some who predicted imminent doom are starting to change their views on how things are going to play out.

I noted during one of my talks that I don’t even like the term “peak oil.” That is because there are a number of misconceptions and negative connotations associated with it. I prefer to talk in terms of resource depletion and a supply/demand imbalance that includes multiple elements – all of which combine to keep upward pressure on oil prices. So what are those misconceptions about peak oil? Below are the ones I think are most common. ...

Comment [tehChromic]:

"Many of the people at the top are probably very concerned and thinking about ways to preserve stability."

I do think there's cause for optimism in terms of leadership from the top, but there's also cause for pessimism. If there's hope from 'the top' it feels in some ways to be the kind of hope that you feel when rolling dice - a matter of complicated interactions forces and pressures that amount to luck.

I think 'at the top' means any number of things, especially in today's top heavy economic system where the ultra-rich are increasingly unaccountable to the responsibilities and disciplines that may have been required to create their wealth to begin with. Many pragmatic folks take for granted certain values and ideals that the uber wealthy simply don't need to . In our compartmentalized, technologized economy, wealth accumulates unevenly and rapidly, and there's no guarantee that it collects around the most pragmatic, responsible, or capable people. I know they're demonized already, but look at the Koch brothers - they inherited massive mechanisms of wealth production, with enough skills to keep it, yet they live in an insular bubble of misinformation. And they have the means to promote it publicly on a massive scale. Rupert Murdoch is another highly public example - immorality and power rewarded by wealth.

I'm not guessing when I say that there are many other uber-wealthy individuals who inherit and keep their wealth and power, but haven't the slightest idea of how to use it responsibly, or of what its use and impact are, to the rest of the world or planet. The structure of power and influence 'at the top' is by no means a system of selecting the most intelligent or well meaning people. In fact it seems to often favor the creation of vindictive, insular, irresponsible, and even plain old crazy individuals.

Add to this the emerging reality of automated technologies for war and security, and I think there's a good argument to make that the ultra-rich will have a better incentive to protect their own through systematic control, rather than reform. In this scenario, the impending problems of resources and population continue on their intractable path, and rather than taking the unpopular and inconvenient project of reforming civilization for everyone, the rich and powerful simply invest in the means to weather the storm. Then the status quo continues, but with technological controls put in place piece by piece, and with each new crisis allowing for more stark division between class, as the system gradually (or suddenly) fails all but the most well defended. There's plenty of precedent for this in history - the feudal era for example - but near future technology will provide the means for an unprecedented barrier or protection around who have access to it and those who do not. Who doesn't dream of surviving a human catastrophe to emerge into a mostly empty paradise of wealth and plenty, with your technology and class intact - for the ultra-rich this must seem like a real possibility in the near-ish future.

It could also be that by 'at the top', we're not talking about the ultra-rich and their minions and handlers, but instead we mean the military or civilian leadership of our democratic nations, or possibly we're talking about the shadowy uber-thinkers in and around the strategic organizations like the pentagon, or DARPA, or military/corporate leaderships, or even thinkers and planners within entities like oil cos or IBM, Microsoft, Apple, Google or etc. This is a better bet IMO, but there's a problem in that for every bright, hopeful effort towards a better future by an idealistic young company, politician, or strategist, there's an established oligarchy of interests that have been playing the game for longer, and for whom the establishment of money and power really sets the reality of what is actually done in the world since it pays for their existence in terms of maintaining its own.

So I think there is some possibility that the powers 'at the top' could come to their senses and build momentum towards real reform and sustainable life on our planet through positive, incremental steps. But it seems likely, given the history of civilization and empire, that a very narrow, self-serving set of human interests will determine the outcome in a contest for ultimate control - and that most people will be on the losing side.

According to The Daily, the Tampa police produced this vehicle to deal with some protesters.

Overkill, much? (As many folks have observed on Twitter, these sorts of responses are playing right into the protesters' hands.)

UPDATE: It's not actually a "tank," of course, though it certainly looks like one. It's a "12-ton armored personnel carrier."

It is supposedly for "rescue" operations, though why it needs to be armored to do that is not clear.

From The Daily, via @pegobry:

Katter’s Australian Party State Leader, Aidan McLindon, condemned the LNP’s mining policy which will ramp up coal seam gas mining to fund Campbell Newman’s election promises.

“Campbell Newman today released a policy which acknowledges the CSG rush is hurting rural Queensland. It then states in the very next paragraph that the LNP supports the expansion of the industry,” said Mr McLindon.

“To make it worse, Campbell Newman conceded he would allow this industry to steam roll ahead at the expense of Queensland communities because he wants the money to pay for his election commitments.”

“Queenslanders living in rural and regional communities know from today that under Campbell Newman they will not have the right to say no to coal seam gas mining on their property.”

“There will be no moratorium. However, there will be more committees conducting ‘community consultation’ while foreign-owned coal seam gas companies run roughshod over them, risking our greatest water resource, the Great Artesian Basin.”

“Katter’s Australian Party is the only party that will provide landholders with rights and certainty over their property. It will immediately impose a CSG moratorium and that is why we are receiving such strong support.”

Mr McLindon added that Campbell Newman’s CSG platform had caused huge rifts in the party room. “Campbell Newman’s admission that CSG has caused problems in the LNP party room shows the level of anger of rural and regional members.

Today’s announcement will only increase that tension because Newman has made a clear, cold and calculating decision to risk poisoning the Great Artesian Basin to buy his seat.”

In a tragic lead-in to ‘World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims’ five Queenslanders died on the States roads yesterday, three of them teenagers.

Today is the internationally recognised day on which all those killed and injured in road crashes are remembered, together with their families, the emergency services and all others affected or involved in the aftermath.

Our thoughts go out to the families, friends and communities who have lost loved ones on our roads. Two hundred and thirty-one people have died on Queensland roads so far in 2011. This represents mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children, husbands, wives, friends, collegues - people, individuals, who were much loved and are terribly missed.

Let us honour those who have lost their lives by acting to save the lives of others.

Everyone can take action to prevent the road toll from rising with police urging everyone to drive safely, plan their trips, and remember the ‘Fatal Four’ causes of fatal and serious crashes; speeding, drink and drug driving, driving tired and not wearing a seatbelt.

A few simple steps can help prevent carnage on our roads:

• Don’t speed;

• Drive to the prevailing road and weather conditions;

• Alcohol and drugs do affect driver’s abilities. Never drink – or drug – drive;

• Always wear a seat belt;

• Stop and rest often, plan your drive, change drivers regularly;

• Obey traffic rules – they are there for your protection and the protection of other road users; and

• Be patient and careful on the road at ALL times Drive responsibly and help prevent more deaths and further grieving.

Everyone deserves to make it home safely.

Day two of Gold Coast Schoolies 2011: Queensland Police Media [20/11/11]

Official celebrations started for students last night when thousands of school leavers congregated around Surfers Paradise to enjoy the entertainment and facilities provided.

Police were generally pleased with the behaviour of schoolies overall with only a small number of the large crowd coming to the attention of officers. Police arrested 26 schoolies on 28 offences with the majority being for drunk and public nuisance offences.

These figures are the same as the figures for Saturday night last year. There were six schoolies arrested for minor drug offences relating to allegedly small quantities of cannabis and ecstasy tablets. Of the schoolies arrested overnight there were 25 males and one female.

Also overnight there were 110 schoolies issued with liquor infringement notices.

Police would remind all schoolies that officers will be actively detecting these types of offences which can result in on the spot fines. ...

EMERGENCY ACTION AUTHORIZED. ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL PROTESTS IS NEEDED. CONVERGE AT FREEWAYS AND HIGHWAYS. LIBRARIES, MALLS, GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, SCHOOLS...ALL ARE ACCEPTABLE AREAS! STARTING TOMORROW!

This is the most important operation in the history of Anonymous. No operation will be executed until we make sure this operation is successful. Any videos uploaded will be updates on this operation.

Citizens of the United States, We are Anonymous.

This is an urgent emergency alert to all people of the United States. The day we've all been waiting for has unfortunately arrived. The United States is censoring the internet. Our blatant response is that we will not sit while our rights are taken away by the government we trusted them to preserve. This is not a call to arms, but a call to recognition and action!

The United States government has mastered this corrupt way of giving us a false sense of freedom. We think we are free and can do what we want, but in reality we are very limited and restricted as to what we can do, how we can think, and even how our education is obtained. We have been so distracted by this mirage of freedom, that we have just become what we were trying to escape from.

For too long, we have been idle as our brothers and sisters were arrested. During this time, the government has been scheming, plotting ways to increase censorship through means of I S P block aides, D N S blockings, search engine censorship, website censorship, and a variety of other methods that directly oppose the values and ideas of both Anonymous as well as the founding fathers of this country, who believed in free speech and press!

The United States has often been used as an example of the ideal free country. When the one nation that is known for its freedom and rights start to abuse its own people, this is when you must fight back, because others are soon to follow. Do not think that just because you are not a United States citizen, that this does not apply to you. You cannot wait for your country to decide to do the same. You must stop it before it grows, before it becomes acceptable. You must destroy its foundation before it becomes too powerful.

Has the U.S. government not learned from the past? Has it not seen the 2011 revolutions? Has it not seen that we oppose this wherever we find it and that we will continue to oppose it? Obviously the United States Government thinks they are exempt. This is not only an Anonymous collective call to action. What will a Distributed Denial of Service attack do? What's a website de face ment against the corrupted powers of the government? No. This is a call for a worldwide internet and physical protest against the powers that be. Spread this message everywhere. We will not stand for this! Tell your parents, your neighbors, your fellow workers, your school teachers, and anyone else you come in contact with. This affects anyone that desires the freedom to browse anonymously, speak freely without fear of retribution, or protest without fear of arrest.

Go to every I R C network, every social network, every online community, and tell them of the atrocity that is about to be committed. If protest is not enough, the United States government shall see that we are truly legion and we shall come together as one force opposing this attempt to censor the internet once again, and in the process discourage any other government from continuing or trying.

We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not forgive censorship.
We do not forget the denial of our free rights as human beings.
To the United States government, you should've expected us.

Tonight members of Occupy Boston and Occupy Harvard mic checked Newt Gingrich—former Speaker of the House (R-GA) and current candidate for the Republican presidential nomination—as he introduced his documentary A City upon a Hill: The Spirit of American Exceptionalism at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. The documentary was produced by Citizens United Productions, the lead plaintiff in the 2009 Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission which ruled that corporations and unions have a right to spend unlimited amounts of money on political advertisements.

Here’s the video of our mic check ...

November 19: National Day Of Action On Aboriginal Deaths In Custody

This is an urgent and strong call for real justice for all aboriginal deaths in custody victims and their families. From 1980 there have been over 400 deaths in custody nationally and no police, jail or custodial health officer has ever been found guilty of any crime in an Australian court of law.

The closest we came to justice was in the tragic event whereby senior sergeant Chris Hurley was found to not have a case to answer by a jury from Townsville. Townsville has legally been found to be the most racist city in Australia towards aborigines.

The latest death in custody, which we know of, occurred in Borallon gaol, Qld. A 25 year old aboriginal man from NT. Isa was found dead in his cell. Even before the autopsy or any required investigation the authorities from the private jail were advising one and all that the death had no suspicious circumstances to it. We believe he died from health related causes brought about by a complete lack of duty of care by a gaol system based on profit.

Other deaths however continue to scream for justice to finally be forthcoming and to allow their spirits and families to finally find some well-deserved justice.

Mulrunji Doomadgee and TJ Hickey from 2004 still need a resolution based on justice. The horror that was inflicted upon Mr. Ward in 2008 still causes distress to all that he could have been so callously treated by both the WA police and the private transport services. No amount of compensation will counter any of the unbelievable cruelty shown to this respected elder.

Veronica Baxter and Terry Griffith, jnr. were deaths that call for the closest of investigations to be held. Baxter was a transwoman who was placed in a male jail. Whilst her inquest has been held the inquest was a travesty of justice, not as bad as suffered by the Hickey family but a farce nonetheless.

There have been far too many others who have died due to the incompetence, arrogance and absolute racism of those who are meant to take care of them.

On this national day of action we call upon all people of good faith to join us in respectfully remembering those who have died in custody. At the TJ rally, February last year, we called on the lord mayor, Clover Moore, to support our call for a memorial to all NSW deaths in custody. We are still waiting for Clover to honour her written agreement of that time.

We plan to meet at the fence line where young TJ became impaled upon the spiked fence arising from a Redfern police chase. We were told by representatives from clover’s office that she would broker a meeting with the Redfern police and the dept. of housing to allow Gail Hickey and her family to place the plaque onto the concrete below the spiked fence to both honour and remember their son. That hasn’t happened either.

Come; join us at the fence line, Tarunga units, crn George and Philip Street Redfern at 10 am Saturday 19 November 2011.

Support our call for justice for all deaths in custody victims and their families.

Ray Jackson
President
Indigenous Social Justice Association

www.isja.org.au

Actress Anne Hathaway Joins Occupy Wall Street

... The 29-year-old, who's slated to play Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises, joined her boyfriend Adam Shulman in the anti-corporate demonstration at Union Square in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon, and RadarOnline.com has the photos.

...

Since Occupy Wall Street got underway two months ago, several politically active celebrities have leant their fame to support the movement, which is taking over the world. ...

COMPLAINT DETAILS:

Bought a 'NextG Elite' WiFi modem because the 'Optus' Dongle was giving poor reception.

At first, the "Elite" was great - 5/5 excellent reception and speed. Now it drops to one or two bars of reception and cuts off all the time. I have to restart, pull out the battery and sim, stand on my head, do the hokey-pokey etc... and within a few minutes it drops back down to one or two bars.

I live on the Gold Coast.

Last week I spent an hour and a half on the phone to your tech as we went through a convoluted quasi-superstitious routine of pulling out batteries and unplugging devices. The relief was as effective as it was instant. Namely, by the next morning we were back where we started and reception was playing up again.

WHAT IS THE OUTCOME YOU WOULD LIKE?:

Well, I was hoping that every child in the world would get a pony for Christmas.

But then I thought about it a bit more and decided that perhaps I should be a little less ambitious and perhaps hope merely that the WifI would simply do the job it used to and for which I have paid.

Anti-Coal And CSG Rally @ Bowral

Image: @maxphillips

UN-Backed Report Spotlights Links Between Global Warming And Extreme Weather: Media Release [18/11/11]

A United Nations-backed report confirms the link between climate change and current trends in extreme weather such as floods and heat waves, and warns that existing measures, even in developed countries, are not enough to cope with the severity of these events.

The report, whose summary was approved today by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Kigali, Uganda, reveals that high and low daily temperatures have risen on a global scale due to the rise of greenhouse gases, causing an increase in floods, heat waves, droughts, and other extremes associated with damage caused by high sea levels and heavy precipitation.

The report also states that extreme weather conditions have become more powerful and dangerous as a result of climate change, increasing the vulnerability of densely-populated regions in coastal zones as well as populations that live in conditions of poverty and have limited ways to cope with natural disasters.

For the high-emissions scenario, it is likely that the frequency of hot days will increase by a factor of 10 in most regions of the world

“The world has entered a deadly new age where today’s extreme weather events are likely to become the norm,” said Margareta Wahlström, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction.

“Those who are already vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition, living without access to clean water and sanitation, and living in informal settlements have the least capacity to cope and adapt. The IPCC special report is a plea to governments worldwide to ensure that disaster risk reduction is at the heart of sustainable development during this century of climate change,” she said.

The report forecasts that hot days will become even hotter and occur more often on a global scale.

“For the high-emissions scenario, it is likely that the frequency of hot days will increase by a factor of 10 in most regions of the world,” said Thomas Stocker, co-chair of one of the report’s working groups.

“Likewise, heavy precipitation will occur more often, and the wind speed of tropical cyclones will increase while their number will likely remain constant or decrease.”

The summary of the Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX) also warns against the catastrophic costs of inaction on climate change, stating that currently no country is fully prepared to deal with the effects of global warming, while also providing governments with adaptation tools and guidelines to tackle this issue.

“This summary for policy-makers provides insights into how disaster risk management and adaptation may assist vulnerable communities to better cope with a changing climate in a world of inequalities,” said Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the IPCC.

The report points out that although there are many options for decreasing risk, most have not been implemented.

“We hope this report can be a scientific foundation for sound decisions on infrastructure, urban development, public health, and insurance, as well as for planning – from community organizations to international disaster risk management,” said Chris Field, another co-chair of one the report’s working groups.

“The ability of the world to become more climate-resilient will largely depend on the speed with which emissions can be decreased, and the extent to which the poor and vulnerable populations in developing countries are provided with necessary finance and technology to adapt to the inevitable,” said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

To keep track of developed countries’ financial support developing countries’ efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the UNFCC launched today an online portal that allows governments, institutions and individuals to access information on these contributions, making the process more transparent

Developed countries pledged to give $30 billion between 2010 and 2012 to help developing countries tackle climate change, a commitment that was reiterated at the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun last year.

In a statement released by UNFCCC, Ms. Figueres called on governments to step up their efforts towards this cause at the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban at the end of the month.

“When governments meet in 10 days’ time for the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, it is important that they understand the extent to which climate finance has been provided by developed countries,” Ms. Figueres said.

“This allows for transparency and trust-building among governments on the fulfilment of financial commitments and the projects supported by the funds which benefit people in developing countries.”

Occupy Tokyo: Mass Demonstrations Go Unreported By Japanese Media

You've heard about the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York, Los Angeles, London, Toronto, Berlin, Tel Aviv and elsewhere around the world. But did you know that huge demonstrations have been taking place in Tokyo as well? We certainly didn't until a SOTT forum member sent us the details. The general lack of awareness of the protests in Japan is probably due to the fact that there has been zero coverage of 'Occupy Tokyo' - which has grown out of the country's large (and growing) grassroots anti-nuclear movement - in Japan's mainstream media.

Several large demonstrations have taken place all over Japan in recent months, especially in Tokyo. The general mood is the same as elsewhere: ordinary people in Japan are fed up with their leaders' lies, particularly the lies told by TEPCO, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, and how the government has handled the Fukushima disaster. Or rather, how it has avoided handling it. This should all be eerily familiar to Americans of course; BP's lies and the US government's enabling role from the moment the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in April 2010 has continued to this day, with the tragedy continuing to unfold in deathly silence. What is happening in Japan is almost a carbon copy; denial, smear campaigns, heavy-handed tactics and, of course, total media blackout. Up to one million people may have died as a result of Chernobyl, although we'll never really know the true death toll. Fukushima is many orders of magnitude worse...

People in Japan are very angry. Even though the Fukushima disaster is nowhere near ending (in fact, it is getting worse), Japanese media are simply not covering the fallout of the worst nuclear accident in history. Aftershocks from the Magnitude 9 earthquake which struck off the coast of Japan on March 11th are hardly mentioned in the Japanese media, but the fact is they are still ongoing and people are constantly stressed out by them. The economic aftershock is also beginning to take hold in a big way. The good news, says the SOTT forum member in Japan, is that people are now starting to wake up the fact that the Japanese government, TEPCO, and the media have been lying all this time and that more people are starting to take action to actually deal with the situation rather than wishfully think it will just blow away out into the Pacific Ocean.

Like citizens in other 'democratic' countries, Japanese people have had a crash course this year in learning that their own media is as controlled, if not more so, than those 'less democratic countries' everyone loves to point fingers at. To paraphrase Japanese independent journalist, Mr Uesugi, "In Japan, control of the media is worse than in China and similar to Egypt." An outrageous example of this information blackout was a recent demonstration by over 60,000 people in Tokyo which was never mentioned by the Japanese mainstream news at all. On top of protests focused on the Japanese government's handling of the Fukushima disaster, an 'Occupy Tokyo' movement is gaining momentum as well. Nobody is receiving much information about this either, unless they check out alternative websites. What follows is an overview of some of the events that have taken place in Japan, Tokyo in particular, in the past three months. ...

NEW YORK — The first people across the Brooklyn Bridge last night walked under the purple banner of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). They initially walked past, not a phalanx of cops, but a line of white-shirted marshals from a coalition of city unions. One of those marshals, Ray Vargas, was stopped by police lieutenant who said, `"Thanks for doing this.’’

Something has happened to Occupy Wall Street.

And what it is, to steal from a protest song of another era, ain’t exactly clear. But what was obvious at the end of the cold wet "day of action" last night was this: The "occupy" movement is going mainstream.

"There are no longer differences between the young people at Occupy Wall Street and us,’’ says Vargas, a member of New York United, a coalition of municipal unions.

"We are in this together.’’

No question but that the city’s unions and other civil society groups were caught unawares by the Occupy Wall Street movement when it began two months ago. They followed the young anarchists and radicalized computer geeks who planned and executed the takeover of Zuccotti Park.

But Thursday what was left of the original group seemed badly splintered and unable to focus. Some wanted to throw their bodies at the police guarding the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street. Others wanted to maintain their brief reoccupation of the park. Because of their model of "horizontal democracy," the remnants of the original group— evicted three days ago in a middle-of-the-night police raid —couldn’t find consensus.

One ad hoc general assembly meeting ended with an agreement that "some will do this and some will do that," as an equally ad hoc leader shouted over the crowd.

In the morning, the police—in huge numbers and dressed for a fight in helmets — had the measure of the often crafty demonstrators. The two sides played a cat-and-mouse game of chase through the narrow streets of the financial district.

It frequently became tense and even violent, especially after the police all but penned the few hundred demonstrators inside Zuccotti Park. Early in the afternoon, an argument between a policeman and a protester over whether the metal barricades represented a fire hazard suddenly erupted into a raid by about 30 riot-clad cops who ran into the park and came out with four protesters, including one who was badly bloodied.

Occupy Wall Street was running out of surprise ploys, cagey tactics, and even trademark humor. In some of their forays near Wall Street, the young protesters were alternately taunting the police—including calling them pigs—and begging them to join their ranks.

"One of you, please, take off your helmet and join us!" one protester cried after a clash on Broadway and Exchange Place. Fat chance.

The group had promised, as one group chanted, to "shut down" the city by jamming the subways, but that never happened. Thanks to as many as a thousand college students who walked out of the New School, New York University, Juilliard, the City University of New York, and Cooper Union, a group that had the numbers to shut down the subways—but that wasn’t the students’ strategy.

"We are here to show what is happening to higher education opportunity in this country," said Kanchan Richardson, a Cooper Union student. She said she wasn’t interested in jamming the subways.

But, while the threat to the subways never materialized, the "day of action" did draw thousands—perhaps more than 5,000, to a rally at Foley Square. These were teachers and nurses and doctors and professors and social workers and secretaries—union people with union discipline who passed out signs and instructed each other on how to avoid confrontations with the police who also are union members.

And they showed they know how to use civil disobedience. About 50 sat down on Chambers Street near the entrance of the Brooklyn Bridge and were arrested peacefully and without blood—showing how it’s done for maximum media coverage and minimum bloodshed.

"What Bloomberg did to the kids at Zuccotti Park energized us and showed us we have to do more to end inequality in this country,’’ said Mel Aaronson, a teacher from Queens.

It’s difficult to know now whether the evolution of the protest movement will make it stronger or weaker . "We don’t need a park, we have an idea, and that idea is growing,’’ said Brendan Burke of Brooklyn, a truck driver who served as the security chief for Occupy Wall Street.

Perhaps. But the sharp organization and discipline of the group when it was housed at the park has disappeared. The question now is whether, as Burke said, the idea has grown and taken root among the more traditional organized groups that failed in the past to capture the imagination of the country the way Occupy Wall Street has.

A comment from Mark Bray of Jersey City, a long-time Occupy Wall Street participant, illustrated the change. After several unsuccessful attempts to occupy Wall Street literally, he tried to put the best face on the day. He said that the demonstrators prevented Wall Street workers from getting to meetings on time.

"We interrupted business as usual," he said.

Not really. People got to work on Wall Street Thursday and they got home despite threats to shut down the subways. But the energy and discipline and persistence shown by traditional union and community organizations showed that business as usual in this country may indeed have ended.

 

Meet the 0.01 Percent: The War Profiteers

While the Occupy movement targets the 1 Percent, we want to introduce you to the elite among the gang of superrich: the war profiteers. War industry CEOs make tens of millions of dollars a year, putting them in the top 0.01 percent of income earners in the U.S., and they use their corporations’ massive lobbying dollars to keep their job-killing gravy train rolling. We’ve got to stop them. ...

Shouting “I call upon you to surrender yourself as a war criminal” in a ballroom filled with Nashville’s moneyed elite, members of Occupy Nashville infiltrated an elaborate gala Thursday night where former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld gave a keynote address.

Protesters mingled amid supporters of Rumsfeld during a panel discussion lauding the increased militarization of the world. They enjoyed a lush dinner costing $125 a plate, provided to Occupy Nashville by an anonymous donor. Rumsfeld even patted one protester on the shoulder before he began his speech.

Several minutes into Rumsfeld’s speech, an Occupy Nashville protester stood up and shouted that one of the primary architects of the Iraq war misled the American public and said, “Citizens are waiting outside to receive you and render you to the custody of the authorities.”

Rumsfeld was accused of authorizing torture, causing the deaths of more than 6,000 American servicemen and woman and lying about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

As security escorted each protester out of the building, another sprung up to take his or her place. In all, four protesters successfully infiltrated the event and interrupted Rumsfeld’s speech at the Downtown Hilton Hotel.

Another five protesters got past security and made a brief statement in the hotel lobby.

Outside, a band of Occupy Nashville members waived signs, distributed fliers and chanted, “Hey Donald, you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!” Some marched around the hotel with large copies of an “arrest warrant” and prepared to symbolically perform a citizen’s arrest of the man who purposefully invaded a sovereign nation and sanctioned the use of cruel, degrading treatment in contravention of the Geneva Conventions, the international laws governing war.

The protesters outside waited to escort Rumsfeld to The Hague with dignity, but he never surrendered himself.

Protesters explained that although Donald Rumsfeld is no longer in office, they still perceive a clear and present danger to our democratic processes.

They spoke about corporate influence over government and the military. They protested leaders of the military-industrial complex, such as Lockheed, Halliburton and Northrop Grumman, and how they buy influence through campaign contributions, provide high-paying jobs when senior military and elected officials leave government, and lobby politicians to change legislation and policy in their favor.

“Spending on arms and armies misappropriates scarce resources, diverts social capital from productive purposes and depletes a nation’s strength,” a flier read. “Every gun, warship and rocket is a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed, those who are sick and are not treated, those who seek productive work and are unemployed. Security and liberty must prosper together.”

Rumsfeld’s dinner was sponsored by the right-wing, pro-war think-tank and lobby group The Heritage Foundation as a fundraiser for Tennessee Lynchpins of Liberty, an obscure organization consisting of one man: Williamson County Republican Party Chairman Kevin Kookogey, according to a report in The Tennessean newspaper.

Rumsfeld also used the opportunity to promote his newest book.

Protesters will be available for questions from the media at 9 p.m. in the Nashville Music Garden, at the intersection of 4th Avenue and Symphony Place.

The occupation’s actions on Thursday were part of a nationwide Day of Action to celebrate the two-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street.

Occupy Nashville is a citizen-led movement that supports Occupy Wall Street.

We seek to remove corporate influence from politics. We demand that our elected representatives be accountable to us and not to corporate paymasters.

We are the 99 percent. We are growing.

Occupy Nashville has general assemblies at 7 p.m. on weekdays and 1 p.m. on weekends at Legislative Plaza downtown.

War by the Numbers:

We are still paying the cost of Donald Rumsfeld’s lust for war:

The war in Iraq — $1.4 trillion, 10 percent of our national debt

One American soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan, yearly cost: $1 million

We spend more on defense every year than all other nations combined — $685 billion — and that excludes the costs of Iraq and Afghanistan

6,274 — the number of needless deaths of American servicemen and women

Over 100,000 — the number of needless deaths of innocent Iraqis and Afghanis

19% — nearly one in five — the proportion of veterans returning from Iraq reporting mental health problems

www.democracynow.org - Renowned Indian writer and global justice activist Arundhati Roy is preparing to address Occupy Wall Street on Wednesday. She recently joined us in the studio to talk about the Occupy movement.

"What they are doing becomes so important because it is in the heart of empire, or what used to be empire," Roy said.

"And to criticize and to protest against the model that the rest of the world is aspiring to is a very important and very serious business. So... it makes me very, very hopeful that after a long time you are seeing some nascent, real political anger here."

She also discussed her new book, "Walking With The Comrades," a chronicle of her time in the forests of India alongside rebel guerillas who are resisting a brutal military campaign by the Indian government.

For the complete interview, read the transcript, download the podcast, and for additional Democracy Now! reports about the Occupy Wall Street movement, visit

http://www.democracynow.org/tags/occupy_wall_street

Arundhati Roy: We Are All Occupiers [VIDEO]

Arundhati Roy speaking at the People’s University in Washington Square Park, New York, held at Judson Memorial Church, 16 November 2011.

We're declaring an Economic Emergency for the 99%.

Despite months of demands by our community, despite millions of people out of work calling for change, Congress and the Wall Street banks continue to maintain the status quo, enriching themselves at the expense of the rest of us.

Today we are saying enough is enough.

Our bridges need repair. Fixing them could put unemployed people back to work. These actions are a powerful symbol of our leaders' failure to pass a jobs bill or do anything to help the 99%, while the richest 1% keep getting richer.

We're live-blogging throughout the day as these actions take place in dozens of cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Portland, Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, DC, Seattle, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Houston and Miami.

You can also follow us on Twitter at @SEIU for breaking news, photos and lots of live updates. Check out updates, photos and video from cities, below.

...

The November 17th National Day of Action is the most prominent example to date of Occupy protesters joining forces with progressive organizations, labor unions and the American Dream movement, which is a partnership between MoveOn.org, Rebuild The Dream, SEIU, Center for Community Change, and many other groups.

At 3PM, thousands of students, workers, and other supporters gathered in Union Square chanting "Shut the city down!" and using the People's Mic to share stories of how banks and corporate greed have impacted the 99%. Simultaneously, Occupiers took to multiple subway stations in all five boroughs.

Students chanted "CUNY should be free!" and "Student Power!" as they took to the streets along 16th and 5th Avenue, shutting down traffic and leaving police powerless to respond. Police attempts to erect barricades along 5th Avenue failed to block the march, as banners reading "OCCUPIED" were seen along New School buildings.

Now, massive crowds are marching down Broadway toward Foley Square to join another large contingent of labor unions and fellow Occupiers. Despite a massive police presence and helicopters circling overhead, protestors are taking Foley Square. Thousands more are still en route, as marches continue to converge on Foley Square and more supporters pour from the subways.

Mr GIBSON: My question without notice is to the Premier. Will the Premier confirm that the Mary Valley landholding portfolio has recently been valued at $225 million, representing a devaluation of $220 million on the purchase price of $449.5 million as outlined in this leaked Cabinet Budget Review Committee document?

Ms BLIGH: I thank the honourable member for the question. I do not have any of the data in front of me. I am not in a position to confirm those numbers, but I am happy to get advice to him at a suitable time.

It is well known that the government does have a plan to release land systematically in the Mary Valley. We will not be flooding the market by putting it all there at once. But we do intend to systematically release it to the market. That will be done over a number of years. So the valuation, whatever it may be now, is not relevant to the long-term value and the long-term return to taxpayers. We will put it to the market when it is in the best interests of taxpayers, and we will put it in a way that not only recoups the value but potentially exceeds it but at the same time brings people back to living in those properties in the Mary Valley.

Uranium Mining

Mr McLINDON: My question without notice is to the Minister for Employment, Skills and Mining. I refer to a radio interview on 3 March 2009 where the member for Mount Isa said that she has long held the view that uranium could help sustain the region in the future, and I table the transcript.

Tabled paper: Copy of an article, dated 3 March 2009, titled ‘Labor MP breaks ranks over uranium mining’.

Will the minister please outline the government’s policy on uranium mining in Mount Isa and any other uranium mining policies which may be in the public arena?

Mr HINCHLIFFE: I want to thank the member for his question because it gives me a chance to make clear this government’s longstanding policy around the banning of uranium mining in Queensland. There is no question about that policy. We committed to it during the last election, and in recent days it has been recommitted to by the Premier. We have been very consistent about informing industry of our no uranium mining policy. That fits into a context where we stand against contributing to the nuclear fuel cycle in this world. They are the reasons this government stands by its no uranium policy. We have a policy based upon our commitment to not contribute to the nuclear fuel cycle. It is not a policy that is based upon the plans that might be in place at the moment or might not be in place at the moment. As I said, we have consistently informed the industry of our no uranium mining policy. We are, however, on the threshold of a massive resources boom which includes great opportunities for the north-west minerals province and for the Mount Isa region. I know the member for Mount Isa is very, very strongly committed to that. It sits in the context of a whole range of massive resource projects that are providing terrific opportunities for Queensland. This week the Premier announced 400 new adult apprenticeships in Gladstone through Bechtel and the new LNG industry. That is almost a quarter of the total jobs that a uranium mining industry would offer in Queensland.

We have consistently informed industry of our no uranium mining policy. It is important to note that the Queensland government does not issue exploration permits specifically for uranium. We have exploration permits for minerals other than coal that allow a holder to explore all minerals other than coal. Companies seeking exploration permits for minerals, including uranium, do so in the knowledge that our longstanding policy bans the mining and treatment of uranium. In fact, it is specifically noted on the exploration permit application forms.

What is not noted on the permit is where Campbell Newman stands on this issue. Once again, we have seen this week the little general having a bob each way. There he is sitting on the fence, just like he has been sitting on the fence on a whole lot of other issues around the great opportunities that the resources sector provides for Queensland. This is one where he shows no leadership whatsoever. Well, the little general cannot have his yellowcake and eat it too. We cannot afford to have him saying that the LNP has a stated position that it has no plans for uranium mining. Obviously, it sounds like the plans might be coming from bag man Barry O’Sullivan sometime down the track. That is the real agenda behind this—it is say one thing at one time and do another thing after you get in power.

Mrs CUNNINGHAM (Gladstone—Ind) (8.42 pm): Last sitting I spoke about the reduction in services at the Gladstone Hospital. As a result of those concerns the minister agreed to a meeting between myself, himself and the director-general. Sadly, the result of that meeting has been that in great measure the concerns have been confirmed. Because of the Clinical Services Capability Framework, services at the hospital have declined. Anaesthetic for children under four years which has been available for many years with no change to the doctors and the staffing has been removed. The downgrade of the high dependency unit to a high acuity area is also a concern given the industry mix and the increase in industry in the area and commensurate population. They say that for an ICU to be established there would need to be a suitably trained workforce with credentials and competencies to provide evidence based, safe, high-quality and intensive care practice. For Gladstone to have a level 4 intensive care unit it requires a lead clinician with responsibility for clinical governance of the service who is a registered medical specialist with credentials in intensive care medicine, anaesthetics, emergency or general medicine. It would also require a CT scanner and back-up staff. I know by talking to people in the community that there are a number of highly qualified staff there already and unless their competencies are used they, too, will continue moving on.

We have a high industry mix with some high-risk industries. We have been blessed to date that there has not been a major incident. There are about 14,000 workers coming because of the gas proposals for the area. Rather than diminishing services at the hospital there should be and must be a concerted effort to improve services. Just to go through it with a sweeping assessment after the Patel incident in Bundaberg and to downgrade services in a hospital in a growing community like mine is not only a retrograde step, it is reprehensible. The community expects support from this government as they as a community are supporting the industry. They expect services to improve. They expect access to services to be maintained and improved. That is not happening. It is under the guise of the CSCF. I implore the minister to consider incentives to bring specialist staff to the Gladstone region to work at the hospital otherwise the community will lose faith in this government, in its drive to have new industry, and will see it as its inability and unwillingness to match that industry and growth with appropriate services.

20,000 people marched on Wall St. on May 12 and no one noticed. At OWS a few hundred people camping in has captured the attention of the world.

This is a great point made by Nathan Schneider in Jaisal Noor's video summing up the actions yesterday (one reason I no longer feel it necessary to race around to every event to film is because of real film makers like Jaisal.)

Nathan points to the disruptive nature of OWS, which is so different to the non-disruptive actions of unions like the UFT, which often wants to partner (collaboration it is called) with the very powers they are supposedly protesting against. You know, that seat at the table they so hunger for.

In the video Justin Wedes talks about the big demo tomorrow which on the surface may look like the May 12 event which was mainly under the control of unions like the UFT. They are also involved in the event tomorrow but are they any longer in a position to control the direction of the movement?

One aspect to watch will be the Occupy DOE group that meets up on the steps of Tweed at 4:30. See my report earlier today: Calling all future Occupiers of the Department of Education!

This is the OWS ed spin-off that disrupted Walcott's PEP Common Core standards scam a few weeks ago followed by the General Assembly on the steps of Tweed on Nov. 7, both events ignored by the UFT leaders - similar to their boycott of our movie. When it comes to educators applying the lessons of OWS, the UFT is not interested.

I think if you watch carefully over the next few months as the DOE escalates the closing of schools and co-locos of charters and pushes teacher evals and common standards down our throats - and if the ODOE teachers can really build something - you will see the UFT leaders in a quandary as to how to react.

Of course co-opting the movement would be a major part of their strategy, and they may succeed as they have in the past - I see all too many people who still hunger to partner with the UFT even when they understand exactly what they are doing.

ODOE will meet again on Sunday at noon at 60 Wall Street if you are interested in moving that forward - in case you can't make the 4:30 meet-up at Tweed tomorrow.

Police Force 'Unnecessary,': Occupy Dallas Lawyer

Before scores of police officers moved in to dismantle the Occupy Dallas campground early Thursday morning, Jonathan Winocour, an attorney representing the protesters, advised them to leave peacefully.

He said the overwhelming police presence was "unnecessary."

"Frankly, it's a grossly disproportionate use of threatened force for this situation," he said.

"It's very aggressive, in-your face policing. This is reminiscent of some nascent police state; that's a little scary."

"It's unfortunate, because as an officer of the court, an attorney, I'm tempted to encourage people not to engage in anything that's going to get them arrested," Winocour added.

"But this is an act of civil disobedience, and at some level, I guess you have to 'Gandhi up,' for lack of a better term."

Retired Philadelphia Police Captain Ray Lewis was in Zuccotti Park last night with the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Mr. Lewis showed up in uniform carrying signs a pair of signs imploring New York City cops to join the protests. “NYPD Don’t Be Wall Street Mercenaries,” one read.

Mr. Lewis was interviewed on one of the Occupy Wall Street livestreams at about two this morning. He was sharply critical of the NYPD’s conduct during their raid on the protest encampment Tuesday. “This bullrush–what happened last night is totally uncalled for,” Mr. Lewis said.

A Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson confirmed to the Observer that Mr. Lewis was a captain prior to retiring in 2004. He was photographed at the protests yesterday afternoon as demonstrators ringed Zuccotti Park in the wake of their eviction.

In his late night interview with the livestreamers, Lewis said police in New York City should have dealt with Occupy Wall Street through negotiation rather than forcefully removing protesters from the park.

“You should, by law, only use force to protect someone’s life or to protect them from being bodily injured OK? If you’re not protecting somebody’s life or protecting them from bodily injury, there’s no need to use force. And the number one thing that they always have in their favor that they seldom use is negotiation–continue to talk, and talk and talk to people. You have nothing to lose by that,” Mr Lewis said.

“This bullrush–what happened last night is totally uncalled for when they did not use negotiation long enough.”

Mayor Bloomberg has stated the raid was necessary because the protest encampment carried with it a risk of crime, fire and health hazards. Mr. Lewis called that rationale “a farce.”

“They complained about the park being dirty. Here they are worrying about dirty parks when people are starving to death, where people are freezing, where people are sleeping in subways and they’re concerned about a dirty park. That’s obnoxious, it’s arrogant, it’s ignorant, it’s disgusting,” Mr. Lewis said.

Mr. Lewis said the police want to get rid of him, but he vowed to keep coming back to the protests.

“They’re trying to get me arrested and I may disappear OK?” Mr. Lewis said.

“As soon as I’m let out of jail, I’ll be right back here and they’ll have to arrest me again.”

Mr. Lewis thinks some officers might appreciate his presence, but not top brass.

“I’m their worst enemy, especially with the white shirts, the bosses OK? Some of the fellow cops they might be thinking, you know, ‘That guy, he’s got a point,’ but the bosses, I’m their number one enemy,” Mr. Lewis said.

Mr. Lewis clearly doesn’t think the NYPD likes him, but he told the protesters he doesn’t think cops are their enemy.

“All the cops are, they’re just workers for the one percent and they don’t even realize they’re being exploited,” Mr. Lewis said.

Viewers who watched Mr. Lewis’ interview told us he spoke on camera for more than 40 minutes. We’ll try to get our hands on a full clip, but for now, you can watch an excerpt of Mr. Lewis’ livestream appearance below. ...

Verso NY found itself in a strange situation last night: we were putting the finishing touches to our new book on the Occupy movement, written and edited by our comrades at n+1, at the very moment that NYPD were evicting Liberty Park. While doing so, the city authorities threw the 5,000-book People’s Library into a sanitation truck—joining, in their own sordid way, a tradition that stretches from the the sacking of the libraries of Alexandria and Baghdad, through the Nazis burning Jewish books, to the destruction of libraries in Sarajevo and Baghdad in 1992 and 2003.

The Occupy movement has now spread its roots across the globe, with over 100 occupations in the US alone—and brutal evictions in other cities have tended to lead to new, stronger encampments, often within twenty-four hours. As I write this post, lawyers are fighting the city and NYPD in court, to allow protesters back in, with their belongings. The OWS general assembly met in Foley Square last night—and a new poll shows that a clear majority of New York voters support the 24-hour occupation. The Writers and Artists Affinity Group is planning to help restock the People’s Library, and Verso will of course be contributing (once again) a lot of books. As the protesters chanted last night: “You can't evict an idea.”

Occupy! will be published on December 17th, the three-month anniversary of OWS. Free, as far as possible, at your local occupation; on sale, for $14.95 or £9.99, everywhere else. You choose!

My office isn't far from Zuccotti Park and when I heard it was being cleared I went down with my camera. I ended up filming for 18 hours until the park was reopened at 6 PM on November 15.

The police presence was overwhelming, more than I've ever seen - more than during the blackout, more than the days after September 11.

 

Community consultation and research will play an important role in developing a city-wide Flying Fox Property Management Plan.

Community and Cultural Development Committee Chair, Councillor Bob La Castra, said the consultation was in line with the requirements of the Department of Environment and Resource Management.

“Council has engaged a suitably qualified consultant to help develop the plan, which when completed will be submitted to DERM for approval,” said Cr La Castra.

“Whilst DERM remains the lead agent for the management and conservation of flying foxes, this plan is in response to community concerns about the number of flying fox colonies across the city.

“DERM has provided a template that identifies key areas that need to be addressed by Council in developing the plan. This includes identifying and addressing which businesses and sections of the community are currently affected and community consultation.

“It is hoped the consultation will identify and assess community opinions towards flying foxes and flying fox-related issues, including misconceptions, to provide a framework for an education strategy and management plan.” Consultation will include:

telephone survey of 400 randomly selected residents site visits of known flying fox roost sites, and nearby residents, to assess the ecological value, risk level and impact on public activity

‘have your say’ website feedback to provide the general public who were not captured in the site visits and telephone survey an opportunity to comment

The telephone survey and site visits will be conducted between November and December. The ‘have your say’ website will be activated at the same time.

“This is about involving the Gold Coast community in the future management of flying fox colonies in our city. Although, it must be remembered that the end result will ultimately need DERM approval,” said Cr La Castra.

The committee recommendation for a community consultation plan to be conduced as part of the management plan, will be considered at full Council on Monday (22/11).

A bill that would destroy the Postal Service as we know it was approved by a key congressional committee on Oct. 13, and could come up for a vote in the full House at any time.

It is urgent that APWU members ask their legislators to vote no on H.R. 2309.

To help APWU members send the message to Congress, the union will be mailing a brochure to every union member’s home in the coming days.

President Cliff Guffey is asking union members to sign the postcard included in the brochure and mail it to their legislators.

H.R. 2309 is the postal bill introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL) that would require the USPS to make $3 billion worth of cuts in post offices and mail processing facilities within two years.

The legislation also would prohibit postal unions and management from negotiating restrictions on layoffs, and it would empower an appointed “solvency authority” to unilaterally cut wages and benefits.

“This bill would severely damage the Postal Service and harm service. In addition, it would take a devastating toll on postal workers,” Guffey said.

“It is absolutely essential that we make our voices heard,” he said.

Every APWU member is urged to take immediate action to stop H.R. 2309 — or any similar bill from becoming law.

While some Occupy sites in America were torn down by authorities overnight, Dunedin's Occupy protesters continued their campaign.

As there seems to be no sign of an un-occupation, a local politics specialist says as the public are the ones protesting, the rest of the public need to be open to that.

After months of protests around the world the occupy movement is now starting to be rattled by authorities.

Police have removed the camp in New York, legal proceedings have begun in London, and here in New Zealand councils are threatening action.

So after all this have the protesters achieved what they were hoping for?

The protesters have until tomorrow to respond to the council with a leaving date.

Occupy Wellington member Joel Carpenter spoke to Firstline today. Click ‘view video’ to watch the full interview.

Across the Web today, you may have a hard time accessing your favorite sites.

Try it. Go to BoingBoing and try to read some blog posts. Or try to make out the logos at Reddit or Metafilter.

Those sites and logos are blacked out to draw attention to American Censorship Day, a major effort by a coalition of dozens of groups including Public Knowledge, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Mozilla and Free Press (longer list here) to kill the “Stop Online Piracy Act.” SOPA (H.R. 3261) is a bill moving through the House of Representatives that could rip apart the fabric of the open Internet — and introduce a new regime of online censorship.

Hollywood and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are pushing SOPA as a solution to online copyright violations, but its heavy-handed tactics would infringe on the due process rights of the thousands of users who could see their sites disappear from the Internet.

The bill would have dangerous repercussions here in the U.S. and around the world. Global Voices co-founder Rebecca MacKinnon writes today in the New York Times that the bill could actually “strengthen China’s Great Firewall and even bring major features of it to America.”

SOPA would not only let companies silence websites they suspect of posting illegal content but would also allow banks to freeze financial deposits to the accounts of website owners, potentially forcing falsely accused Internet enterprises out of business. Corporations would have way too much authority over the way the Internet works, and the private sector would have the power to disconnect the URLs of any websites corporations contend are behaving improperly.

A Senate version of SOPA, called the Protect IP Act, passed committee approval in the spring following a massive push by film and music industry lobbyists. These lobbyists are back, but now Silicon Valley companies and venture capitalists have joined forces with civil liberties groups, independent musicians and free speech advocates to stop the bill.

American Censorship Day is the fruit of that collaboration. You can get involved, too. Sign our letter against SOPA and use Facebook, Twitter and email to spread the word about this important day of action.

Josh is associate campaign director for Free Press. He was formerly the managing editor of Change.org, a social action site, and was a frequent commentator on the use of technology in the 2008 election as associate editor of techPresident and the Personal Democracy Forum.

Mr WELLINGTON: My question is to the Minister for Employment, Skills and Mining. Nambour TAFE has a proud record of providing excellent training courses for students in many fields including construction and related industries. Will the minister respond to recent claims that numerous construction training courses at Nambour are to be stopped and that courses are in the future to be provided by private, profit-making businesses?

Mr HINCHLIFFE: I thank the member for Nicklin for his question and for his strong advocacy on
behalf of his constituents and on behalf of the Sunshine Coast region in relation to this matter. I share
his commitment to training for Sunshine Coast locals. I reiterate to him that we will ensure that TAFE
Queensland continues to deliver for that community across the Sunshine Coast.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, the downturn in the construction industry in places like the Sunshine Coast has affected the number of apprentices in the local construction industry. However,
as we know, there are a number of housing and infrastructure projects planned for the Sunshine Coast
like the Sunshine Coast University Hospital and projects undertaken by the Urban Land Development
Authority.

Mr Wilson: Not if the LNP have their way.

Mr HINCHLIFFE: Not if the LNP have their way, as the Minister for Health has said. I am sure I am not alone in wanting to see local tradies working on those construction sites. In addition, the Bligh government has just held a successful Work for Queensland Mining and Gas Jobs Expo on the Sunshine Coast. The expo strengthened our resolve to work side by side with industry employers and training organisations such as our TAFEs to ensure that we deliver the work skills in the construction and resources sector that we need now and into the future. With a shortage of skilled workers right now in the country, vocational education and training is more important than ever. There are thousands of jobs on offer in the resources industry, and we will see jobs in supporting industries like construction being developed as well. We want to see Queenslanders, particularly Queenslanders on the Sunshine Coast, being part of that story. The Sunshine Coast Institute of TAFE has an important role to play in meeting these skills shortages. They are and have been a great training ground for our future plumbers, bricklayers, carpenters and painters. I know that has been delivered very well at the Nambour campus, as the member for Nicklin is very well aware.

I have had discussions with the Department of Education and Training following the issues that the member for Nicklin has raised with me and the director of the Sunshine Coast Institute of TAFE. As a result of those discussions, I have been assured that those courses will remain open. Consultation is currently underway with local employers and apprentices as well as other TAFE Queensland providers like SkillsTech to find the best way to continue the delivery of that training on the Sunshine Coast. I want to see employers easily keeping their apprentices and those apprentices continuing to train where they live. The Bligh government is committed to seeing three out of four Queenslanders hold a trade, training or tertiary qualification by 2020. That is why we are continuing to be committed to working with the Sunshine Coast Institute of TAFE and other TAFE providers to make sure that construction training continues on the coast. Put simply, TAFE will continue to provide construction training on the Sunshine Coast.

Wellingtonians Demand End to Fracking!

Press Release: Climate Justice Wellington

Today Wellingtonians turned out to demand an immediate end to fracking in Aotearoa, gathering at Parliament and erecting a mock drilling rig. Representatives from Labour, the Green Party and the Mana Party spoke about their concerns over the destructive gas extraction process.

'The government would not allow the drilling rig to be erected on parliament lawn, and the activity was moved to outside of Parliament grounds.' says anti-fracking organiser Jessie Dennis.' Consider the hypocrisy here, as the government will not allow a peaceful protest to occur on Parliament grounds with a small mock drilling rig, while New Zealanders all over the country face real and dangerous drilling happening in their neighbourhood.'

Hydraulic Fracturing is an incredibly destructive form of gas extraction which is fresh water and fossil fuel intensive and has caused serious water and air pollution. In various places in the world, including the whole of France and South Africa, bans and moratoriums have already been placed on fracking, Now its our turn.

'Fracking is one of the most dangerous forms of fossil fuel extraction available and communities, such as Parihaka in Taranaki, are already facing it happening in their area with dangerous chemicals being pumped under their ancestoral homeland.' says Dennis. 'If the government has its way fracking will soon be happening all over the country. We need to put a stop to fracking now, before it's too late.'

Activities also took place around the country in Taranaki, Auckland, Christchurch and other areas, with ordinary New Zealanders coming out to demand that their rights to a safe environment and clean water be respected. The government must immediately end fracking in Aotearoa.

The Australia Pacific Social Justice Association (https://twitter.com/#!/pacific_justice) has recieved an Open Letter from Christine Assange in which she asks Australians for support for her son, the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange. Media, blogs and web-sites have permission to reprint this release. However, please reprint it in its entirety.

November 17 , Julian Assange Support Day.

Dear fellow Australian,

In about 3 weeks my son, multi-award winning journalist and editor Julian Assange, could be on his way via Sweden to a US prison, where he will suffer the same fate as Bradley Manning, which the UN has condemned as torture.

The situation is URGENT! Australians from all walks of life overwhelmingly support his work at Wikileaks to expose corporate and government corruption. His only hope now is that his fellow Aussies demand that our government stand up to US bulliying and guarantee his protection, against a US extradition.

GET THE FACTS, not spin, at -

(1)- swedenversusassange.com

(2) legal and diplomatic briefings to Australian Parliament, March 2nd 2011 http://wlcentral.org/node/1414

(3) daily updates (google: "wikileaks twitter".)

On Nov 17 please join me to protest this terrible injustice, and remind our government that in a democracy they represent us, not US interests .

SUGGESTIONS for PROTEST in tweet format to be tweeted, and retweeted- "NOV 17 JULIAN ASSANGE SUPPORT DAY."

Protest Canberra or wherever your Local Fed.

MPs office is, call radio, make signs and banners, t-shirts etc.

Of course you may have other good ideas.

PLEASE FWD THIS EMAIL REQUEST TO AS MANY OTHERS AS YOU CAN.

Thanking you,

Christine Assange

 

Minister Farrakhan blasts media reporters during a commercial break on a local Chicago radio station

 

... Until we dream of life and life becomes a dream ...

'As', Stevie Wonder [1977]

City officials in Burlington, Vermont, recently used the suicide of a 35-year-old man as an excuse to deceptively close down the occupation. In New York City, just this morning, police threatened arrest to anyone who did not clear Zuccotti Park - the birthplace of the Occupy movement. Across the nation the media, right-wing critics and city officials are wrongly blaming Occupy for seemingly any crime or incident that occurs anywhere in their respective cities in an especially sinister smear campaign that aims to discredit and ultimately try to destroy the movement. Other occupations are in jeopardy of being shut down by the police. Organizers and supporters must act bravely and quickly to save - and expand - this movement as we head into the dead of winter.

A new and vicious smear campaign against the Occupy movement is in full swing. The narrative of this campaign is to portray the movement as a hotbed for violent crime and danger. This false narrative, if it sticks, could prompt more city and town officials across the country to shut down occupations, as the City of New York has attempted to do just this morning, and weaken the movement. This cannot be tolerated.

The full picture of the smear campaign became evident to me when I received a message on a social networking site from a right-wing relative of mine. His message linked to a right-wing smear site that, citing the suicide of a 35-year-old homeless man in Vermont among other things, painted the occupations as one of "sexual assault, violence, vandalism, anti-Semitism, extortion, perversion and lawlessness."

My relative and many of his right-wing comrades, it seems, really believe that the Occupy movement is in favor of murder, violence, rape and drug dealing. This is rather astounding, but it is also the reality of how far beneath contempt the opponents of Occupy are willing to go to kill this movement. The mention of "sexual assaults" is especially slimy, given that it was a protester from Occupy Wall Street who was the victim, not the perpetrator, of an alleged rape and her fellow protesters assisted her with medical and legal help and reported the alleged rapist to authorities.

It is fascinating - as well as scary - to see the way attacks on Occupy have evolved since it first started in late September. Originally, the media coverage and the right-wing attacks attempted to portray the protesters as aimless, lazy, hippie freeloaders, who were fornicating and defecating on the streets, while banging on drums and rambling about nonsense. This caricature did not work, as the support and diversity that make up the movement and its supporters were just too obviously different from the cartoonish portrayal the movement's critics tried to paint. As Bill Maher rightly said on his HBO show "Real Time," "Occupy is not the counterculture. It is the culture."

But, now, this new and far more sinister smear campaign is well underway. The corporate media, right-wing critics and city and town officials are trying to blame the protests for virtually any and all crime that has occurred on or near the encampments. The headlines in the media outlets - which are owned by corporations that make up the 1 percent in most instances - continue to amplify these narratives and push for the closing of the occupations. The vast majority of these crimes and incidents have nothing to do with the Occupy movement; in fact, many of them speak more about the major social and economic injustices the protesters are trying to end. But that has not stopped city officials from trying to use these instances to stop the occupations. The occupation in Burlington, Vermont, has already been shut down. Occupy Oakland has been shut down twice. Zuccotti Park, the birthplace of the movement, is being cleared out by police as I write this. And if the false narratives continue, other occupations - and the strength of the movement - could be in jeopardy.

This is now a crucial moment for the Occupy movement. How organizers and supporters proceed in the next few days may well shape the health and survival of the movement heading through the winter and into the spring. It is absolutely essential that Occupy organizers and supporters (including independent media) work aggressively to: 1) counter the false narrative that tries to, absurdly, link the movement to street violence, rapes and drugs deals, in order to discredit the movement; 2) better explain the relationship between the homeless and the Occupy movement, as the media has portrayed the relationship between organizers and the homeless as vitriolic and divisive, while understating the spirit of acceptance and cooperation between activists and the homeless - themselves products of our unjust economic system; and 3) most importantly, the movement must continue to maintain the occupations, even in the face of crackdowns from city officials and police. This movement is the single most exciting development in decades for the prospects for creating a more just society. It must continue.

How City Officials in Vermont Deceptively Shut Down an Occupation

The shutdown at Occupy Wall Street may garner the most attention, but the momentum for such an action began earlier in the week. The tragic suicide of Josh Pfenning, a 35-year-old homeless man in Burlington, Vermont, is perhaps the most glaring example of how media coverage and numerous right-wing attacks mislead the public about the reality of the Occupy movement. The suicide was originally reported as a "shooting" in many outlets, leaving the nature of the incident ambiguous and allowing the media and right-wing critics to falsely claim the Occupy movement is violent and dangerous. Worst of all, city officials in Burlington - notably Mayor Bob Kiss - used the suicide as an excuse to shut down the occupation in the most deceptive of ways.

Will Hurd is a Burlington native who has been an organizer of Occupy Vermont and has stayed at the encampment every night. In an interview with Truthout, he said that in the immediate aftermath of the suicide, city officials pulled a bait and switch on the members of Occupy Burlington. Just hours after the suicide, Hurd says (and YouTube video confirms) the mayor and the police chief approached Occupy members and asked them to meet for "a dialogue" at 6 PM. When the occupiers cleared out to attend this dialogue, he said, virtually the entire Burlington Police Department - in full riot gear - sprung out from hiding places in nearby buildings and shut down the occupation. "They basically tricked everyone and took the park," Hurd said in an interview with Truthout. "And the media refuses to cover this. They seem to want to portray this façade of peace and they are ignoring the actions of the city."

For the progressive city of Burlington - whose mayor is actually in a third party called the Progressive Party - to use such grave deception in taking the park, especially given how cooperative the occupiers have been, is an extreme injustice. A phone call to Mayor Kiss's office was not returned.

Of course, the suicide of Pfenning, is an especially sad story. He had a troubled life, dealing with homelessness, alcoholism and legal problems. But those who knew him said he was a pleasant, insightful and peaceful man, who strongly supported Occupy Burlington. His mother provided a message in the days following his death, distributed through Facebook, to declare her son's support for the movement as well as her wishes that it continue. Occupy Burlington held a vigil and remembrance following his passing.

Suicide, sadly, is a major problem for the homeless. While research on the issue has been limited to regional areas, the data does not paint a pleasant picture. In New York City, for instance, the homeless commit suicide at twice the rate of those who have housing, according to a report done by the city's Health Department. This is not surprising given the hardships of homelessness.

Yet, the city of Burlington - viewed as among the most progressive of places in all of America - decided to blame the suicide, not on the ills of society, but on the existence of tents at the park. "The presence of structure/tents creates an enhanced risk by virtue of the activity that can and is occurring inside them. This risk simply cannot be managed by the encampment facilitators or police under the current circumstances," said a message from the Burlington Police Department. "We have communicated that we believe the tents will need to be removed to ensure the safety of those involved in the protest, the public and our law enforcement officers."

The idea that tents are a special security risk when drugs, alcohol and weapons can be hidden in pockets, cars, and apartments, is a clear excuse to justify shutting down the occupation. While organizers were respectful that police needed access to the scene of the suicide to mount an investigation, to permanently halt the occupation was a contemptible act. Worse, it could well be followed by similar action by other city officials in other cities, especially if the Occupy movement is falsely blamed for every crime or negative incident that occurs anywhere near their locations.

Blaming the Protesters for All Urban Crime

It seems lost on critics of Occupy, the media and many city officials that in urban areas - where many of these encampments are located - crime is a regular occurrence. Drug deals, gang violence, sexual assaults, tragically, are not uncommon in American cities. But with the protests in full swing, city officials and the media are blaming Occupy for virtually any crime, tragedy or incident that occurs anywhere near the occupations.

I have spent several nights at Occupy Boston and can say that the atmosphere is peaceful, unified, collegial and positive. There are, no doubt, a few bad apples that do not represent the movement and risk its credibility by causing trouble. As with any movement, there are some misguided folks who taint the movement with their idiocy. But the movement itself, which operates by consensus, has clearly come out in support of nonviolence, cooperation, mutual respect and keeping the park free of illicit behavior.

Boston, however, is a highly populated city with plenty of crime and drug trafficking. And, in the course of the occupation's first month, police - often using undercover sting operations - did manage to make four drug arrests, all of them involving homeless people selling to undercover cops.

Exactly how involved - if at all - the defendants (who have not been proven guilty) were in the organizing of Occupy is not clear. But no matter what happens in these cases, it is absurd to try and portray Occupy Boston as a haven for drugs and debauchery, as opposed to the highly organized and peaceful operation that it is. Four drug arrests in an urban area is hardly a spike in drug activity. Police officers have told me, speaking on the condition of anonymity, that there has been no real surge in criminal activity as a result of Occupy. There is a surge in headlines. A drug arrest in Boston is an everyday occurrence that typically does not warrant much press coverage. But a small drug transaction that occurs anywhere near Occupy Boston is fodder for endless headlines and smears. But, as organizers have repeatedly pointed out, those who are staying in tents on Dewey Square are almost all there out of a genuine desire for change.

The problem, of course, is that all of these negative headlines - and the false narrative blaming the Occupy movement for all of these crimes - could lead Boston city officials to take a similar action, as Mayor Bob Kiss did in Burlington. "The problem we have today is that we have different groups infiltrating the people who have the message. We have anarchists who are part of the group. We have homeless individuals who are part of the group," said Boston's Mayor Thomas Menino in an interview with a local CBS affiliate where he suggested the occupiers "think about leaving" Dewey Square. "I just wish that the group that's demonstrating, not just here in Boston, but nationally ... They're directing their anger at the wrong location." Menino seems to be setting the stage to possibly close down the occupation - something that should not be tolerated.

Demonizing the Homeless

At Occupy Boston and Occupy Vermont, as well as other encampments across the country, the issue of homelessness has been a major subject of scrutiny by the media. While it is true that the homeless have been at the center of some of the controversies, here again we see efforts to disparage the movement as well as the poor and the homeless. It is indeed true that homeless people have flocked to encampments. Some have come because they feel they have fallen through the cracks in our society and want to help fill them; others come for food, shelter and company. They are human beings with human needs and the occupations offer them many things that the US government - in the richest nation in history - does not offer them: food, warm clothes, acceptance and respect.

"We recognized early that many homeless people would come. We were happy to help them with food and shelter. Many of them became very interested in the political process ... people were learning from each other and forming great relationships," Hurd said. "It was beautiful to watch. And now that the park is closed, the homeless are forced to scatter to various places to sleep."

But media across the country have ignored the positive interactions - as well as the context of how our unjust economic system leaves so many people without work or shelter. In Vermont, one newspaper article portrayed the relationship between organizers and the homeless as divisive, and quoted one man who said: "I haven't met anybody who's ended up homeless for economic reasons only ...Somebody who wants to get off the streets can definitely do that in Burlington."

This statement is patently absurd and basically states that all homeless people are either addicted to drugs or are crazy. Currently, less than half of the unemployed in the United States receive any benefits and this does not include those who graduated college recently and can't find a job at all. There are currently about five job applicants for each job opening. So, clearly many people can become homeless even if they have no mental illnesses or drug addictions; to claim otherwise is to ignore the gross injustices of our economic system. For those with mental health issues, it is quite a shame that in our system they are so often forced to the streets to starve, as opposed to being treated in humane public facilities. It is indeed remarkable that the collective good will of Occupy Vermont, for instance, cares better for the homeless than the federal government.

Articles about the homeless and other Occupy encampments were very similar in that they paint the homeless as a divisive group, rather than a major stakeholder in US economic policy. The Boston Globe, for instance, reported on "divisions [that] have begun to emerge," as protesters try "to distinguish between homeless people who are joining their movement and those who are there for the amenities." The New York Times ran an article with the headline "Dissenting, or Seeking Shelter? Homeless State a Claim at Protests." The Week pointedly asked, "Does Occupy Wall Street have a Homeless Problem?" Perhaps a better question would have been, "Does the United States economy have a homeless problem and will Occupy Wall Street help us fix it?"

To its credit, the aforementioned Times' article did note that the "rising number of homeless, many of them suffering from mental disorders, has made it easier for Occupy's opponents to belittle the movement as vagrant and lawless and has raised the pressure on municipal authorities to crack down." This is undoubtedly true, but would not be as much of a detriment if the media did a better job of explaining homelessness in the context of our failed economic policies, as well as their positive interactions with the protesters at the Occupy encampments.

In any event, the judgmental portrayal of the homeless population at Occupy demonstrations is yet one more example of how poor people are portrayed negatively, how the protests are demonized. Protests, it is worth noting, which are filled with people fighting for a world in which nobody would have to sleep on the streets and beg for food.

"Whose Parks? Our Parks": Keeping the Occupations Alive

Clearly, the Occupy movement is in a critical stage, especially with the hub of the movement now facing a police assault. The media and city officials are doing everything they can to demonize a movement that is actually challenging centers of power in the United States. By blaming the protesters for shootings, health problems, drug deals, suicides and rapes for which the movement is not at fault, city officials now have justifications, however invalid, to shut down the occupations. Burlington, Vermont's, occupations have been ransacked by police. Occupy Oakland has also recently been shut down. Are city officials feeling more emboldened to take aggressive action against these centers of free speech? Will more occupations be met with violent confrontations aimed at shutting them down?

Clearly, the answer is yes. But nobody said fighting for change is easy. And if the Occupy Movement and its supporters redouble their efforts and are willing to continue this peaceful movement - even at the risk of arrest - city officials will be more cautious in shutting down these protests. This is especially true given that, according to polls, the Occupy movement is still more popular with the public than the Tea Party or Wall Street, despite all the recent bad press. This is a testament to the anger this country has at the recklessness of the top 1 percent and the government which it controls. Despite setbacks, there are many signs of progress. In Boston, California, and elsewhere, the movement is expanding into colleges, such as Harvard and Northeastern.

This is the right idea. While circumstances have put Occupy on the defensive, organizers are aware that this movement is, and needs to be, growing. And justice, the will of the public and the staunch determination of those who brave cold nights to fight for a better world for their children, are still very much on the side of this movement. The protests are working, which is why they are being attacked with such vigor. Now is the time to keep these occupations alive and growing through the winter. So, police shut down Zuccotti Park, or City Hall Park in Burlington. Well, then protesters will come back and set their tents back up, somewhere. They cannot lock all of us up. And when the warm air returns and the leaves grow back, the movement can emerge with momentum into our own "American Spring."

This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

Michael Corcoran is a journalist based in Boston. He has written for the Boston Globe, the Nation, the Christian Science Monitor, Extra!, Nacla Report on the Americas, and other publications.

Correspondence between Assange’s lawyer and Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd - October/November 2011

Without the help of his government, Mr Assange may well be in grave danger - Gareth Peirce letter to Kevin Rudd, 25 October 2011

The AFP has completed its evaluation of the material available and has not established the existence of any criminal offences where Australia would have jurisdiction.- Press Release by the Australian Federal Police 17 December 2010

Is Australia Protecting its Citizen from a Politically Motivated Extradition to the United States?

[The Gillard government has] just treated [Julian Assange’s case in Sweden] like a standard consular issue, which is really quite inappropriate given the heavy politics surrounding it. - Tony Kevin, veteran Australian Diplomat

Kevin Rudd, Australia’s Foreign Minister, was contacted directly by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on November 25 2010, two days before Cablegate was first published. The Gillard government was faced with "legal ambiguity over whether ASIO could collect intelligence on WikiLeaks under its foreign intelligence collection function. The issue turned on whether WikiLeaks could be defined as a ’’foreign political organisation’’.

The government solved this by introducing what was unofficially called the ’WikiLeaks Amendment", legislation that redefined the role of the Australian Intelligence Agency ASIO. The government stated that the amendment reflected ’’the changing nature of threats to Australia, since activities undertaken by non-state actors, whether individually or as a group, can also threaten Australia’s national interest’’. In a television show QandA, Julian Assange challenges Prime Minister Julia Gillard directly on spying on its own citizens to further the government’s perceived foreign policy goals:

Australia will have to evaluate its own extradition obligations. - US Ambassador to Australia ahead of Obama’s visit, November 2011

If Mr Assange is sent to Sweden for questioning on alleged offences unrelated to the work of WikiLeaks, the Australian Government should ensure he is not then shuttled to the United States to face concocted political charges under the draconian, First World War-era Espionage Act, aimed at destroying the whistle-blowing website. - Senator Ludlum, MP for the Australian Greens in Parliament

Over the past decade, average housing costs for households with a mortgage increased by $120 per week or 42% (CPI adjusted), according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Between 1999-2000 and 2009-10, average weekly housing costs for private renters increased by $78 per week or 34% (CPI adjusted) and average weekly housing cost for owners without a mortgage increased by $5 per week or 17% (CPI adjusted).

Over the same period, the proportion of households that owned their home without a mortgage fell from 39% to 33%. The proportion of households with a mortgage increased from 32% to 36% and the proportion of private renter households increased from 20% to 24%.

In 2009-10, households with a mortgage had the highest housing costs, averaging $408 per week or 18% of their gross household income. Over the past decade the proportion of gross income that households with a mortgage spend on housing costs has been stable, at about 18%.

Private renters spent an average of $305 per week on rent payments in 2009–10, or 20% of their gross household income. The proportion that private renters spend on housing costs has also remained stable over the past decade, representing about 19% of gross income.

More information can be found in Housing Occupancy and Costs, Australia, 2009–10, available free from the ABS website <www.abs.gov.au>.

Thousands of West Papuans march along the way of Jayapura City On November 14 demanding their right of self determination through referendum. ...

I am not a part of the Occupy Auckland protest. I can't speak for them or their aims.

In fact, I suspect the protesters themselves are somewhat uncertain about their goals. Instead, to use a somewhat hackneyed phrase, the medium of the Occupy Auckland's protest is its primary message.

For the protesters, it is a round-the-clock reminder that the current economic system is not working for many people and a call to think collectively about a better way of structuring society. You may or may not agree with this viewpoint. I do not think, however, anyone would argue it is not genuinely held, or that it is not worth at least some consideration.

Furthermore, by expressing this message through their occupation action, the protesters are asserting rights that are guaranteed to them by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. It affirms that all of us have the right to express our opinions in any form we choose, as well as to peacefully assemble to join in collective action.

These rights can then be limited only if doing so is "demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society". This background must be kept in mind when considering the call by eight Auckland Council members for court action to evict the Occupy Auckland protesters from Aotea Square. The protesters are exercising rights that not only are fundamental to a democratic society, but Parliament has said are of such paramount importance that they only can be limited where "demonstrably justified".

But hang on, these councillors say. The protesters aren't really engaged in a "protest". They are camping on the Council's land, and there are bylaws that say this behaviour is not permitted (unless the Council first gives its permission). So because the protesters' actions breach a bylaw, they are illegal. And the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act doesn't give anyone the right to conduct illegal activities, even if they claim to have a political purpose for doing so. Therefore, if the Council wants these lawbreakers off its land, it should be able to get a court order to do so. After all, what is the point of bylaws otherwise?

Well, maybe. But things are not quite so clear. First of all, the fact Auckland has a bylaw prohibiting camping does not remove the Occupy Auckland encampment from the protection of the Bill of Rights Act. The Council cannot dictate what is and is not a valid form of "protest" simply by making a bylaw. If it could do this, then a bylaw prohibiting people from shouting in the street would mean chanting on a protest march is outside the protection of the Bill of Rights Act. Or a bylaw prohibiting the public display of signs would mean the Bill of Rights Act doesn't apply to waving a protest placard.

Clearly that is wrong. Council bylaws must instead be consistent with the rights in the Bill of Rights Act, in that they can only limit those rights in ways that are "demonstrably justified". And if a bylaw's limit on a right can't be so justified, then the right trumps the bylaw.

Consequently, a general bylaw that says people cannot camp on the council's land does not in-and-of itself strip the Occupy Auckland protesters of the right to peacefully assemble to express their views in this manner. Instead, the question is whether the application of that bylaw to the protesters is "demonstrably justified".

That then brings us to the alleged justification for kicking the protestors off Aotea Square. What is the reason for seeking to stop the Occupy Auckland protesters from choosing to protest in the form of an occupying encampment? What is the precise harm they are causing that justifies applying the Council's bylaw in a way that limits their legislatively affirmed rights? Sure, the protestors may be annoying and somewhat unsightly, but that's the nature of protest. Their presence may be a bit inconvenient, but putting up with a measure of inconvenience is the price we pay for respecting rights.

So while a number of Auckland's residents, perhaps even a majority of them, would prefer to see the protesters removed, the whole point of individual rights is that they counterbalance the majority's desire to have everyone conform to its views. After all, if the mere disapproval of those around you is permitted to dictate the limits of what you can and can't do, then what kind of society would we live in?

In saying this, I do not mean to say that the protesters have a right to stay in Aotea Square forever, or that that the Council is powerless to ever act against them. The longer the protest goes on, the more likely that its effect will go beyond merely annoying or mildly inconveniencing other people.

So, if other groups of residents genuinely cannot use Aotea Square for their planned common purposes, then the issue becomes one of competing rights to peacefully assemble. Or if the Occupy Auckland encampment becomes a threat to the health and safety of others, then that also may be grounds to act to remove them. Or if the nature of the protest changes, so that it becomes violent or disorderly, then that also would change things.

But in the absence of providing such "demonstrably justified" reasons for removing the Occupy Auckland protesters, the Council is bound in law to respect their individual rights to gather together to express themselves in their chosen manner. And those rights make any attempt to get a court order immediately evicting them from Aotea Square a decidedly questionable proposition.

After all, the rights of citizens to have their say ought not to depend on the good graces of those wielding public power. Rather, it is for those with public power to carefully and fully justify why they are limiting the rights of those in whose name they govern.

* Andrew Geddis is a professor of law at Otago University.

They Think We're Stupid

People-power will underpin the development of a $1.5 million masterplan to oversee development and management of the Gold Coast Broadwater.

State Member for Broadwater Peta-Kaye Croft and Gold Coast City Council's Economic Development and Tourism Committee chair councillor Susie Douglas said nominations open today for a community reference group.

"The proposed Broadwater Masterplan will provide a definitive guide for waterway and land use management and development from Paradise Point to Southport," Ms Croft said saying the forum will be an important link between the Waterways Steering Committee and the community.

"That's why we are calling for nominations to form a Broadwater Community Reference Group, which will be at the heart of the project's community engagement activities."

Nominations for a place in the community reference group by interested stakeholders and community organisations are being invited for selection by the Waterways Steering Committee and should be submitted no later than December 16, 2011.

Ms Croft said planning wouldn't be starting from scratch and there were many previous initiatives which had been extensively documented. Some of the plans up for consideration include: Councillor Douglas said a comprehensive masterplan would help secure the long-term environmental and economic future of the Broadwater.

"We've been pushing for a masterplan specifically for the Broadwater for some time and allocated $700,000 in the 2010-11 council budget," Cr Doulas said.

"The Broadwater is one of the city's most important and popular waterways and with recreational and commercial use set to increase as more people move to the city, this body of work will be vital to managing this growth effectively."

The planning process will draw on a number of key prior initiatives. These include: Gold Coast Harbour Vision 2020 Gold Coast Marine Development Project Tides of Change vision for Doug Jennings Park, the Marine Stadium and adjacent lands.

Marine Queensland Chief Executive Officer Don Jones said the development of the Broadwater Masterplan through a community engagement process had the strong support of industry.

"While there have been many studies carried out over the years, a definitive plan for these waters and adjoining lands has always been the missing link," Mr Jones said.

For more information contact Maritime Safety Queensland's Gold Coast Office on 07 5539 7300.

New York, NY —

...

Two months ago a few hundred New Yorkers set up an encampment at the doorstep of Wall Street. Since then, Occupy Wall Street has become a national and even international symbol — with similarly styled occupations popping up in cities and towns across America and around the world. A growing popular movement has significantly altered the national narrative about our economy, our democracy, and our future.

Americans are talking about the consolidation of wealth and power in our society, and the stranglehold that the top 1% have over our political system. More and more Americans are seeing the crises of our economy and our democracy as systemic problems, that require collective action to remedy. More and more Americans are identifying as part of the 99%, and saying "enough!" This burgeoning movement is more than a protest, more than an occupation, and more than any tactic. The "us" in the movement is far broader than those who are able to participate in physical occupation. The movement is everyone who sends supplies, everyone who talks to their friends and families about the underlying issues, everyone who takes some form of action to get involved in this civic process.

This moment is nothing short of America rediscovering the strength we hold when we come together as citizens to take action to address crises that impact us all.

Such a movement cannot be evicted. Some politicians may physically remove us from public spaces — our spaces — and, physically, they may succeed. But we are engaged in a battle over ideas. Our idea is that our political structures should serve us, the people — all of us, not just those who have amassed great wealth and power. We believe that is a highly popular idea, and that is why so many people have come so quickly to identify with Occupy Wall Street and the 99% movement.

You cannot evict an idea whose time has come.

A short 7 minute video I made to try to capture the spirit of the demo - I would have had even more stuff if I had remembered to press the "record" button. ...

Watch directly on you tube: http://youtu.be/NCCQ-qzqyq0

On Tuesday afternoon, a hundred or so parents of New York City public-school children, most of them mothers from the leafier precincts of Brooklyn, gathered outside the Manhattan office of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to rally against the potential extinguishing of the so-called millionaires’ tax. With $1.4 billion for schools cut from the state budget last year, these parents wondered why the governor was so committed to helping the well-off become even better positioned. “Millionaire rhymes with fair and share,” one placard announced.

At no point during this vigorous protest season has the presence of white-shirted police lieutenants seemed more absurd than at a gathering where a young child carried a sign reading: “Don’t take away my music class.”

Parents in New York City, including those at Arts and Letters, a school in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, are now routinely depended upon to supply classrooms with paper towels, tissues, crayons, cleaning products and so on. Increasingly and inconceivably in the city’s public schools, volunteerism is expected to keep the system upright. As one father proclaimed to the crowd, boiling the issue down to its essence: “You can’t sell $1.4 billion worth of cupcakes.”

From August of last year through the end of 2014, as it happens, the state will have given away considerably more than that — $2.1 billion — in the form of another dubious tax advantage: the $420 million a year in subsidies it provides the film and television industry to keep production from going elsewhere. Film tax credits came into vogue in the early aughts to compete with financial incentives offered by Canada. Forty states deployed them last year; New York accounted for about a quarter of the money spent across the country. More recently, several states have ended their programs or suspended financing.

In 2008, the state increased the credit to 30 percent from 10 percent of production expenses unrelated to the costs of creative talent. (Those “below the line” dollars, in industry parlance, pay for things like lighting, location fees, food and other mechanics.) The increase was adopted not because the state knew that the money pumped into the economy by the credit would filter down to the most deserving, but out of a fear that neighboring states, doling out even more generous subsidies, were stealing the business.

“What drove the increase was competition,” Pat Kaufman, executive director of the New York State Governor’s Office for Motion Picture and Television Development, told me. Imagine if we had lost “Gossip Girl” to Scranton.

Film tax credits have long been unpalatable to economists and policy analysts (not to mention the current governor of New Jersey). A comprehensive, independent study issued last year by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research group devoted to the effects of fiscal policies on low- and moderate-income people, criticized the overly simplistic economic impact analysis used to justify them. Mr. Cuomo proposed increasing the allocation to $420 million from $350 million annually after the state commissioned a study from Ernst & Young with co-sponsorship from the Motion Picture Association of America. (The study calculated a return on investment based on a figure that is lower than the amount now being spent.)

Beyond the obvious issue of bias, the study is “highly problematic,” said James Parrott, chief economist of the Fiscal Policy Institute, a nonpartisan group devoted to New York State issues. It is based on imprecise assertions, the first and most egregious being that production companies would leave without the credit, and another that filming would have declined at the same rate that it had before the credit took hold.

“I have never seen an economic impact analysis that makes such bold assumptions to push up the overall numbers,” Mr. Parrott said.

When we are talking about the film and television business in New York State, we are mostly talking about the film and television business in New York City, scenes of which have provided iconic backdrops seemingly since the invention of the moving image. In many instances — “Law and Order” and its offshoots, three decades’ worth of Woody Allen, and indeed “Gossip Girl” — the city itself is a character so central to the entire gestalt that no producer concerned with authenticity would shoot elsewhere.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his cultural attachés have consistently boasted of the growth of the film industry during his administration, laying gratitude largely at the hands of the subsidy. Tourism, it is presumed, blossoms when the world sees more and more of New York on screen. That celebrities walk among us causes people to come, the city’s film commissioner reasoned.

Of course, there is absolutely no way to quantify whether this is true. (I can say that telling out-of-town friends that I regularly see Maggie Gyllenhaal at my subway stop has caused not a single one of them to come and sample my new sleeper sofa.)

It is hard to think of another show that could have delivered more spendthrift tourists to Manhattan than “Sex and the City,” which was filmed here in the ostensibly dark days before the credit’s advent. More recently, we have had “The Real Housewives of New York City” promoting the world of the $800 shoe; as a reality series it has no claim to the credit at all.

There are a record number of television shows filming in New York now — 23 prime-time series. Undoubtedly, the film business is a good thing for the state and city. It provides jobs to struggling actors, set designers, caterers, electricians. But in a number of instances the subsidy is gift-wrapped cash doled out to productions that would be here regardless.

Articles about “The Good Wife,” where New York suffers the indignity of standing in for Chicago (thus not even benefitting from the publicity), have repeatedly pointed out that the show is shot here because its star, Julianna Margulies, likes living in New York. The same is true for the new drama “A Gifted Man,” which is shot here, its executive producer, Neal Baer, told me, because the life of the city is such an important dimension of the show and because its star, Patrick Wilson, wanted to be in New York.

The landscape of the five boroughs is also intrinsic to the series “Blue Bloods.” When the popular show, about a family of New York City police officers, filmed its initial episode in 2009, the state’s subsidy fund had come up short and could not promise that the series would get the credits it had anticipated. “CBS was going to lose $8 million as a result,” the show’s executive producer, Leonard Goldberg, told me. But according to Mr. Goldberg, Leslie Moonves, the chairman of the network, proclaimed: “If we get the money, we get the money; if not, that’s O.K. Just don’t give me a show that looks as though it could have been shot in Cleveland.”

The producer Chuck Weinstock’s adaptation of Henry James’s “What Maisie Knew,” starring Julianne Moore was shot downtown in the summer, and it will definitely not look as though it had been shot in Cleveland. When I asked Mr. Weinstock why he was filming in New York, he said: “It was either shoot in New York or not make the movie.”

As great as it is to support independent films like this one, given the current circumstance in the state and city — and the number of mothers hauling rolls of Bounty to school from Costco — it seems a particular lunacy that we keep enriching a glamour industry without at the very least conducting the most rigorous and thoughtful kinds of cost-benefit analyses.

This weekend I’m going to make a protest sign: “Play-Doh first, ‘Gossip Girl’ later.”

Occupy Adelaide Update

Just a quick update for those that are following the Occupy Adelaide movement.

As you are likely know, Occupy Adelaide was due to be evicted at 3:30pm, but the Adelaide City Council instead chose to have an emergency meeting at 5:30pm

During the OA General Assembly at ~3:30pm Occupy Adelaide decided to send a letter to the Adelaide City Council to consider during that meeting (links at the bottom).

Whilst we are still writing up notes from the council meeting, the main point is that they chose not to evict us by tomorrow morning, nor to do nothing, but primarily due to sanitation (toilets/kitchen), legal and public safety concerns (especially concern for us) they will request that by Friday afternoon we submit an application for public assembly. If submitted the council will then deliberate on it during their normal council meeting time of the following Tuesday (22nd).

This means that assuming none of the by-laws are broken (e.g no fires, or major issues arise) Occupy Adelaide has at least until mid day Friday.

More notes and details will be posted later, however the main point is what to do from here.

There will be a General Assembly (consensus decision making based meeting), this Thursday 17th at 6:30pm for the Occupy Adelaide movement to decide on our next move.

UN World Philosophy Day

17 November 2011

"The practice of philosophy is a process benefitting the whole of society. It helps to build bridges between peoples and cultures and heightens demand for quality education for all. Philosophy encourages respect for cultural diversity, exchanging opinions and sharing the benefits of science, which are the conditions for genuine debate. This 17 November, let us rally together to harness the incredibly transformative potential of philosophy."

Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO
Message on World Philosophy Day
17 November 2011

Proclaimed by the UNESCO General Conference, 33rd session, Paris 2005 (Resolution 33C/45 ).

Celebrated at UNESCO’s initiative every third Thursday of November since 2002, World Philosophy Day will take place this year on 17 November 2011.

World Philosophy Day was introduced in 2002 by UNESCO to honour philosophical reflection in the entire world by opening up free and accessible spaces. Its objective is to encourage the peoples of the world to share their philosophical heritage and to open their minds to new ideas, as well as to inspire a public debate between intellectuals and civil society on the challenges confronting our society.

Within the framework of the celebration of this event, and in cooperation with academic institutions, civil society actors and other partners in the philosophical world, UNESCO provides philosophers, researchers, teachers and students as well as the general public with a wide variety of conferences on various subjects, such as the equitable sharing of scientific benefits, philosophical meanings of the political upheaval in the Arab world, the role and the place of women philosophers in the exercise of thinking, philosophical practices with children, philosophy and equal opportunities at school.

Mr SHINE (Toowoomba North—ALP) (8.53 pm): Recently I had the pleasure of being the guest at a dinner sponsored by QGC, being the momentum recognition dinner. This was a very special event held in Toowoomba to celebrate the successful completion of a pilot program financed by QGC and run by QMI Solutions to recognise the efforts of the participating businesses and highlight the benefits of what, in my view, is an important initiative.

The idea behind the scheme is for QMI Solutions to mentor a number of businesses, and in the pilot scheme this related to six businesses in southern Queensland who were represented at the dinner. I applaud QMI Solutions and the federal government’s Enterprise Connect division as well as DEEDI for what they are achieving and plan to achieve into the future, bearing in mind that this pilot scheme was successful.

They do conduct a whole-of-business review by expert consultants. They look at everything concerning that business, they benchmark it with similar businesses elsewhere in the world and they categorise or rate it on a scale ranging from incompetent to world-class. Then they conduct a thorough two-day strategic planning exercise with each business followed by a five-day guided implementation.

As I understand it, the association between the business and QMI Solutions can be ongoing at the election of the business. The whole idea of this program was to encourage the involvement of local businesses in the coal seam gas industry in the Surat Basin and southern Queensland. I am very pleased that QGC sponsored this pilot program to the tune of $230,000. It was announced on the night by Mr Ian Perks, the vice-president of QGC commercial, that because of the success of the pilot program QGC was advancing a further sum of $1 million to ensure this program continued.

The participants in the program were Bruhl Roadworks, Mike Jones Earthmoving, Wild Desert Drilling, CRC Electrical, Mandandanji Ltd and Gladstone Festivals and Events. They came from all parts of south-west Queensland such as Tara, Wandoan, Roma, Condamine and Gladstone. I commend this work done by QMI Solutions and financed by QGC. It is important that as many businesses as possible share in the benefits of the coal seam gas industry.

Judge Orders Protesters Be Allowed Back In Park With Their Belongings: National Lawyers Guild (New York City Chapter) Media Release [15/11/11]

At around 6 AM on November 15, 2011, attorneys associated with the New York City Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild working as the Liberty Park Legal Working Group obtained a temporary restraining order against the City of New York, various City agencies, and Brookfield properties directing that occupiers be allowed back on the premises with their belongings.

Earlier, at approximately 1 AM, the NYPD began massing around Zuccotti Park “aka Liberty Park.” In the following hours reports surfaced that the NYPD entered the park with police in riot gear backed up by numerous police vehicles, including a bulldozer, evicting occupiers. In the process they destroyed property and arrested dozens of occupiers and protestors including NYC Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez and District Leader Paul Newell.

In the coming hours, days and weeks the LPLWG will pursue all legal options to enable the occupiers to continue to exercise their first amendment rights to speech and assembly for speech. Attorney Yetta Kurland, one of the attorneys from the LPLWG, said, “This is a victory for everyone who believes in the First Amendment. We will continue to fight for everyone’s right to continue the occupation.” In response to the injunction, Daniel Alterman, also an attorney with the LPLWG, stated that, “This is a victory for all Americans, for the constitution and for the 99%.” Gideon Oliver, another attorney with the LPLWG reacted by saying, “The LPLWG has been fighting to ensure their right to free speech from day one of the occupation. The occupiers right to free speech is based in our most core legal principles and we will be here till the end to fight for those rights.”

The order is available for download here. [PDF]

The Liberty Park Legal Working Group is a group of volunteer attorneys and legal workers dedicated to defending the rights of those engaged in constitutionally-protected assembly or protest.

NYPD moved in at 3 am. Men in suits handed out flyers asking occupiers to remove their property. Flash grenades were used and barricades were erected around the park.

Around 100 people were arrested and many were injured as police destroyed tents, donations and equipment. The library and kitchen were torn apart.

A few hundred occupiers stood firm in the park.

Media were physically forced away.

1,000s of New Yorkers descended on Broadway, chanting: "The people, united, will never be defeated!", "Join Us!" and "We are the 99%"

Unions were expected to join the occupiers at Foley Square. Co-incidentally, police surrounded the square.

Tens of thousands of people watched on U Stream.

The whole world was watching!

New York Police are evicting anti-Wall Street demonstrators from the New York square where the nationwide 'Occupy' movement first began.

"Liberty Square [Zuccotti Park], home of Occupy Wall Street for the past two months and birthplace of the 99% movement that has spread across the country and around the world, is presently being evicted by a large police force," the demonstrators said in a statement released on Tuesday.

Al Jazeera's Cath Turner, reporting from New York City, said police used "heavy-handed" tactics to evict demonstrators.

"It seems like the New York Police Department came out about a half an hour ago, about 1:15 in the morning here in New York City, and have surrounded the park. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of police started moving people from their tents.

"At the moment there are maybe a couple hundred people who are still sleeping down at Zuccotti Park for the Occupy Wall Street movement. They started pushing them out their tents and started clearing them out and pushing them away from the park."

According to police officials, most of the protesters left peacefully. However, 15 people were arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Temporary eviction

The office of Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor, said that protesters should dismantle their tents and "temporarily leave" the park.

"Occupants of Zuccotti should temporarily leave and remove tents and tarps. Protesters can return after the park is cleared," the office said on the micro-blogging website Twitter.

Police spokesman Paul Browne said the city and the owners of the park, Brookfield Office Properties, had issued fliers to the protesters saying that the park would be cleared for cleaning.

The flier said the city and Brookfield had decided "that the continued occupation of Zuccotti Park posed an increasing health and safety hazard to those camped in the park, the city's first responders and the surrounding community".

Browne added that protesters may return after the park is cleared, but without their tents and belongings.

However, our correspondent at the scene said that it had not appeared police intended on cleaning up anything.

"They haven't even pretended to clean the park. This is a genuine attempt to dismantle any kind of occupation, any kind of settlement here. So I think the cleaning has gone out the window and really it's just a complete sweep through. There will hardly be anything left."

Protesters set up camp in Zuccotti Park on September 17 as a focus for dissent against a financial system they argue mostly benefits corporations and the wealthy. The movement has sparked similar protests against economic inequality both nationally and internationally.

Police on Monday moved into an encampment by anti-Wall Street protesters in Oakland, California, clearing out occupants and and taking down tents, while in Portland, Oregon, police confronted an estimated 1,000 protesters on Sunday.

Recent developments on the share market suggest that if Metgasco's coal seam gas production plans go ahead in the Northern Rivers most of the gas would be shipped to offshore destinations.

According to local anti-gas groups, a company that is majority-owned by Chinese interests has plans to supply its planned Gladstone export facility with Northern Rivers gas.

"In the five weeks we have seen the company LNG Ltd. increase it's share in Metgasco from around 5% to over 10%," said Boudicca Cerese, spokesperson for GAG Kyogle.

"This company has plans to build a LNG export facility at Fisherman's Landing in Gladstone, and is hoping to secure 1.5 million tonnes per annum of gas from the Northern Rivers to supply it."

"In their latest Quarterly Report, LNG Ltd. actually has a map showing Metgasco's proposed Casino-Ipswich pipeline transporting gas to a hub at Ipswich from which it would be piped on to Gladstone," Ms. Cerese said.

"A subsidiary of CNPC, the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation, which is state-owned and the largest oil and gas company in China, holds a 20% majority share in LNG Ltd., so gas from our region may well be bound for China should this deal go ahead."

"I think it's outrageous that the State Government could even consider risking the precious waterways, pristine natural areas and fertile land of the Northern Rivers so that international interests can make a quick buck from export gas," said Michael McNamara, CSG campaigner for the Northern Rivers Guardians.

"Production of this quantity of gas would require in excess of 1500 wells across the region which would have a devastating impact on local communities and the environment."

"Thousands of people in this region are now involved with anti-gas groups and there is no way they are going to let this go ahead in our region," said Mr. McNamara.

"We don't want to see our region ruined and we don't want any more LNG developments in Gladstone destroying the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area."

Fare-FreeNZ editor, Roger Fowler, presented a submission to the Auckland Council on the Draft Auckland Plan on Tuesday.

His submission called on the Council to "introduce a region-wide network of fare-free public transport to get Auckland commuters out of our cars, and seriously reduce traffic congestion, fuel wastage, road accidents, pollution and related health issues."

Fowler recalled his recent visit to Hasselt in Belgium, who's visionary mayor introduced free public transport 15 years ago, which totally transformed the provincial city from a drab, gridlocked nightmare, into a pleasant, green, 'people-focused' city.

Hasselt has since become a popular cultural hub in Europe.

Auckland too could be transformed into a modern, clean & green world-class city by implementing an efficient, integrated, publicly-owned fare free public transport network. Free & frequent low (or no) emission buses criss-crossing the city and linking up with free electric rail services and ferries, would free up the roads and allow people to move about easily, and leave their cars at home.

One councillor inevitably asked "How would it be paid for?"

Fowler noted that no one seems to ask who pays for all the extravagent motorways, tunnels, and flyovers that continue to be built - only to be encourage more traffic that soon gets clogged again.

Not to mention the high costs to people's health from exhaust pollution and accidents.

Government & Council funding for decent public transport should be a public service priority. Free public transport would make Auckland a world leader and attract a large influx of visitors, who could be levied a special tourist tax. Companies who profit from the resulting increased business could be levied too. And Auckland would be spared the excessive costs of building more motorways.

With Prime Minister Julia Gillard saying she thinks Australia should start selling uranium to India the Australian Conservation Foundation has called on the Labor Party to retain the export ban while India refuses to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

“The Labor Party has a long-standing, prudent and sensible policy of not supplying uranium to countries that will not sign the international nuclear non-proliferation treaty,” said ACF nuclear free campaigner Dave Sweeney.

“The non-proliferation treaty, while imperfect, remains a key international legal mechanism in restricting the spread of nuclear weapons technology.

“Uranium is a dual-use fuel – it can be used in reactors and it can be used to power the world’s worst weapons.

“Australia, as a significant global uranium supplier, has a responsibility to acknowledge that India is a nuclear-armed state that obtained its weapons capacity in breach of international commitments.

“Adding Australian uranium to the mix would not ease the long standing tensions between India and its nuclear-armed neighbours or improve the effectiveness of the global nuclear safeguards regime.

“There is no compelling or convincing reason for Labor to change its policy.”

ACF opposes uranium sales to nuclear weapons states and has long campaigned for Australia to phase out uranium mining and exports, including to Russia, China and India.

Refugee advocates have condemned government moves to deport a 27 year-old Hazara Afghan asylum seeker, Ismail Mirza Jan, from Villawood to Kabul, Afghanistan.

Ismail received a notice of removal last Friday and he has since been held in the Stage one (Blaxland), high security section of Villawood detention centre. The deportation is scheduled for Saturday 19 November.

The deportation would be the first forced deportation since the Australian and Afghan governments signed a controversial Memorandum of Understanding in January this year.

“Until now, the Afghan government has ruled out accepting forced deportations. We are hoping that the Afghan government will again rule out forced removals when they understand what the Australian government intends to do.

“This deportation would set a dangerous precedent for the deportation of other Hazara asylum seekers who have come to the end of possible legal process,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.

“Many refugee determinations accept Hazara claims of persecution but are denying refugee status because the assessor claims that they can live safely in Kabul. But there is no doubt that neither, Afghanistan as a whole, nor Kabul in particular is safe for Hazaras. If anything, Afghanistan is becoming less secure and less safe.

“Ismail fled Afghanistan in 2001, after his father was killed. His province, Wardak, remains notoriously dangerous for Hazaras. Like so many other Hazaras, Ismail has been told he can return to Kabul, but Ismail is not from Kabul. Besides the danger, Ismail has no family, no community ties, no social support and no hope.

“Australian government is reneging on its obligation to provide protection to asylum seekers by trying to impose a form of internal displacement on Hazaras. The Memorandum of Understanding makes a mockery of Australia’s commitment not to return asylum seekers to danger.

“In light of the instability in Afghanistan, we are calling on the Minister to stop Ismail’s deportation and review all Hazara refugee claims.”

NATIONAL: Educators must not be disheartened by results showing Indigenous students continue to lag behind and their school attendance is dropping, an education expert says.

But a shift in thinking is needed to lift attendance rates. A Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Reform Council report released on Thursday shows mixed results for indigenous students.

It says COAG targets to halve the gap in literacy and numeracy by 2018 are on track for Years 3, 5 and 7 but are at risk for Year 9 students. Indigenous school attendance declined in Year 10 in all states and territories. For Years 8 and 9 there were no improvements or falls in attendance.

Reform Council chair Paul McClintock said this was one of the most confronting pieces of data out of everything the council recorded.

“We hope the governments do see these results as an urgent warning because increasing indigenous school attendance rates is crucial to meeting their own targets,” he told journalists in Canberra.

“There’s not the slightest possibility of closing gaps in things like that if that number of children have opted out of the system.” Chris Sarra, director of QUT’s Stronger Smarter Institute, said while the COAG report highlighted continuing concerns, at least it gave a measure of the state of Indigenous education.

To improve attendance rates, Dr Sarra said there needed to be a shift in thinking away from discussions about truancy to a more cooperative approach involving the whole community. The approach of quarantining welfare payments if children didn’t attend school was “profoundly ineffective”.

“But we know for sure from examples right across the country, where school leaders go out of their way to engage with parents and children and build positive relationships, attendance improves,” he said.

Schools Minister Peter Garrett indicated the federal government was starting to think in this direction as well. [Bullshit! - Ed]

Dr Sarra warned educators not to be disheartened although many people had put in big efforts across Australia. “If we can prove that we’re there for the long haul, relationships with Aboriginal communities will become much more positive and the results will start to flow much more quickly.”

OCCUPY WALL STREET has proved to be a difficult, sprawling story to report. Almost immediately after protesters began arriving at Zuccotti Park in downtown New York on Sept. 17, Times readers weighed in with concerns about the coverage.

Too little, some said, and soon added: too late. Condescending, said others, as Times writers delivered analytical columns and articles questioning the protests’ absence of demands, of leaders, of a clear path ahead. Other readers pronounced a different line: The Times was giving too much and too favorable treatment to hodgepodge encampments that were disrupting New York and the other cities in the United States and abroad where the protests had spread.

Now, almost two months into the protest, it’s time to ask: How should The Times report on the movement going forward? How can The Times get a handle on the big issues, while at the same time keeping an eye on ground-level developments in the Occupy camps? Here’s a menu of suggestions; some are my own ideas, and others were culled from views I solicited from readers and journalists.

First and foremost, The Times needs to find the structure emerging from the seemingly formless mass of a movement that pointedly eschews leadership and formal demands. That may sound obvious to some, but there is a strong, sometimes well-argued view that journalists should not impose a traditional framework on this nontraditional phenomenon.

“Reporters and pundits insist on analyzing and judging the movement according to structures of power they are familiar with,” Caely French, a reader in San Francisco, commented in response to my blog post on nytimes.com. “The movement’s lack of designated leaders or demands is treated as idiosyncrasy, obstructionism, immaturity, or a reason to dismiss it entirely.”

She added, “But the refusal to conform to conventional power structures is not just a procedural oddity — it constitutes an essential aspect of the protesters’ message.”

This may be true, but that shouldn’t prevent The Times from developing a template that can help explain Occupy Wall Street to readers. That should start, I would argue, with its origins.

The Times has mentioned several times on blogs that Adbusters, a Canadian magazine, first proposed Occupy Wall Street and even set the date. Yet this intriguing nugget of information remains to be developed. Who is Adbusters? How did the idea leap the chasm between conception and action?

An investigation into origins would lead to the identities of early leaders, at least, and the search for the broader leadership of the movement should continue from there. I polled a group of journalism educators on the question of how The Times should direct its coverage henceforth. Not all agreed on this, but most said it was important to understand who the leaders were and what demographics they represented. The point is: Who is Occupy Wall Street?

“Leadership tells you a lot about a movement,” Jerry Ceppos, journalism dean at Louisiana State University and formerly executive editor of The San Jose Mercury News, wrote in an e-mail. “But I can’t cite the name of a single Occupy Wall Street leader. I know some members say the groups are ‘leaderless.’ But I have trouble believing this is an entirely organic movement that grew without a leader. I’d push hard to see if there are leaders and to profile them.”

The push to establish origins and leadership would help surface the demands, or at least the most important underlying issues. Some of these are already clear, as the movement’s rhetoric returns often to income inequality, unemployment and the high cost of education. In its future coverage, The Times should examine how these issues are changing America, giving rise to movements like Occupy Wall Street and its ideological counterpart, the Tea Party.

The impact the protests are having must be an important focus for upcoming coverage as well. While some say that a movement without demands can’t have an impact, I find credibility in a counterargument made by Peter B. Meyer, a reader in New Hope, Pa.

“Inequality is one thing the Occupiers are all angry about — and the issue clearly resonates with many others, since there is substantial national support for the OWS movement according to recent surveys,” Dr. Meyer, who is president and chief economist of E. P. Systems Group, wrote in an e-mail. “Given that the movement has not made demands, per se, its focus on inequality is a) increasing discussion of the topic about which most of the population has been ignorant, and b) attracting support from others, who the movement is apparently successfully arousing over its key topic of concern.”

Origins, leadership, issues and impact are basics for future coverage. Historical parallels represent something beyond the basics and, if well reported, would help readers place Occupy Wall Street in better perspective.

Catherine Jones of Berkeley, Calif., suggested that The Times delve deeply into the historical backdrops of Occupy protest sites in locations — like the Bay Area and Boston — that previously have served as “historic incubators of movements for civil liberties, workers rights, racial justice, etc.”

She added, “In-depth reporting on the demographics, history and politics of particular cities/metropolitan areas might shed light on the sources and meaning of the Occupy movement.”

While The Times seeks out a macro view of the issues and context, it should also find a creative way to capture the micro view. Publishing a daily blog about life at an Occupy camp is one good idea, suggested by Tom Fiedler, journalism dean at Boston University and former Miami Herald executive editor. Another good suggestion — in a blog post by Emily Bell, a former digital editor at The Guardian in Britain who now teaches digital journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism — called for a Times “air traffic controller,” someone like NPR’s Andy Carvin, who could use social media to aggregate Occupy developments worldwide every day.

I asked Jill Abramson, executive editor of The Times, about her plans. She promised that The Times is now digging into the origins story and considering how to capture the demographics of the movement. Further, she said, The Times’s various desks are “proceeding on multiple fronts with stories that get at the heart of the issues that OWS brings up — income inequality, the lingering effects of the financial crisis and economic stagnation, the seemingly bottomless fall in home values.”

She called Occupy Wall Street “an important story right now, along with the presidential election and world events, which are intimately connected to the global financial crisis.”

To do all this, and remember to capture the strong dissenting perspective of those who view Occupy Wall Street dimly, is the challenge that lies ahead.

Hundreds of police officers raided the Occupy Oakland tent city early Monday morning. In anticipation, protesters from Occupy Oakland had gathered at about 3 a.m. in the intersection of Broadway and 14th Street. Some campers started taking down their tents early.

Gene Ethics and the Safe Food Institute vs Food Standards Australia NZ (FSANZ) will be heard before Justice Kenny in the Federal Magistrates Court in Melbourne at 10.15am today. The applicants claim FSANZ failed to comply with the law that requires it to give complete and clear public notice.

"We say FSANZ broke the law by inserting a general review of Irradiated Food Standard 1.5.3, without public notice, into a Queensland Government application only to irradiate persimmons (proposal A1038)," says Gene Ethics Director Bob Phelps.

"In our view, FSANZ should at the very least have mentioned the general review in the title of the amended application and in related documents and reports, but it didn't.

"Ideally, FSANZ would have separately published its proposed general review of the food irradiation standard and told the public of their right to comment.

"FSANZ refused our request for both applications to be re-advertised and re-assessed separately so we had no option but to seek a remedy through the courts.

"This is a public interest case as the general review of Food Irradiation law would weaken irradiated food labelling and record-keeping requirements.

"We consider this an important case as FSANZ admits it had also buried its own general revisions to Food Standard 1.5.2 on genetically manipulated foods within another specific application. We still do not know the extent of those changes or how they were assessed," Mr Phelps says.

FSANZ CEO Steve McCutcheon noted Gene Ethics' concerns that:

"the title of the Application, 'Irradiation of Persimmons' might be misleading. FSANZ will consider whether it is appropriate or practical to change procedures for identifying applications in order to provide additional information about an application that has an extended purpose."

FSANZ Final Approval document also said: "... the NZ Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry suggested that for transparency, the amendments should be communicated in the title of the consultation to indicate to stakeholders the additional reforms proposed to the Standard in Application A1038."

P20. "We wholeheartedly agree." And belatedly the Approval says:

"FSANZ has amended the description of the Application in the Work Plan and for any future references to the description/purpose of this Application."

P21 "We seek a judgement from the court that requires FSANZ to give full and fair public notice of all future applications," Mr Phelps says.

Safe Food Institute Director, Scott Kinnear says, "From our perspective, this does not go far enough and we challenge FSANZ to reprocess the applications separately. Some scientific evidence suggests that irradiated food may be harmful.

"Meticulous record-keeping and honest labels are essential to ensuring any public health impacts are detected.

"Yet we missed out on making a submission because the general review of Standard 1.5.3 was hidden behind persimmons.

"We did not know because FSANZ failed to tell us of proposed general changes to Standard 1.5.3 in its media release, notice to subscribers, Administrative and Risk Assessment Reports, FSANZ News and Notification Circulars and in the Fact Sheet. We think FSANZ omissions amounted to misleading and deceptive conduct.

"It will be a big win for the public interest if the court decides that FSANZ must always give separate, full and clear notice of future applications for general amendments to the Food Standard," Mr Kinnear concludes.

A1038 docs at: http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/foodstandards/applications/applicationa1038irra4655.cfm

Majority Leader Eric Cantor interrupted at Rice University with a Mic Check by Rice University grad students, in solidarity with Occupy Houston.

To a packed crowd the London LSX 'Not the Lord Mayor Show' began at 3pm.

Compared by acclaimed stand up comedian Andy Zaltzman, this event had a host of performances put on by artists and comedians such as Josie Long, Strummervilles, Spill The Beans and the UK Slam Champion Deanna Rodger.

The steps of St Pauls has become an opportunity for many voices to be heard, views to be exchanged and ideas to be put forward in the global movement of Occupy and its philosophy of a fairer society.

... The people of Nevada and many other states are following in the footsteps of their brothers and sisters of the “Occupy Wall Street movement” in New York City, with marches in Up-town Las Vegas and Downtown Las Vegas. We are told there are also wall street occupiers on UNLV grounds too. ...

Independent Lyne MP Rob Oakeshott says the National Party's absence during a Senate vote on its own coal-seam gas policy is inexplicable.

"At the start of the week, the National Party belatedly outlined its blueprint for coal-seam gas development in Australia," Mr Oakeshott said.

"It's very first principle was: No coal-seam gas development should proceed where it poses a significant impact to the quality of groundwater or surface water systems. It must be absolutely clear that no coal-seam gas development should occur unless it is proven safe for the environment.

"Seventy-two hours later, the Nationals' core principle, word for word, was put to the Senate and was voted down by the Liberal Party and the Labor Party.

"Worse still, the five National Party senators failed to show.

"The community has every right to ask how serious is the National Party on resolving the land management conflict between farmers and miners when they couldn't be bothered to even turn up to vote for their own policy.

"An awful lot of waxing seems to have occurred since the hairy-chested position of the party's federal leader just three days earlier.

"This would be a first in Australian politics - where a political party has failed to vote for their own policy announcement of the same week," Mr Oakeshott said.

"Actions certainly speak louder than words in politics, and the Nationals' absence in Parliament is not lost on the communities of the Manning Valley, the Camden Haven and the Gloucester Basin."

Protester Arrested For Stopping Dredge In Gladstone Harbour:

Lock The Gate Alliance [9/11/11]

Image: Chris Niblett [www.sixdegrees.org.au/gladstone]

Protesters halted dredging in Gladstone harbour for 2 hours today, when Friends of the Earth campaigner Derec Davies hung a banner and locked himself to a Gladstone port corporation dredge.

The protest was supported by a small group of local fishing boats and one kayaker.

Derec was locked to the dredge from 9:30 am until 11:45 am, when he was cut off and arrested by Gladstone Police.

Derec is being detained at the Gladstone watch-house, and police are bringing three charges: unlawfully boarding a vessel; disobeying the master of a vessel and disobeying the harbour-master.

Friends of the Earth Spokesperson Drew Hutton said that the purpose of the protest was to call for a halt to all dredging in the harbour until a genuine independent enquiry was held into the causes of the apparent ecosystem collapse in the harbour.

Mr Hutton said the disproportionate number of marine animal deaths and diseased fish in Gladstone harbour reflected an ecosystem under extreme stress and his organisation had no faith in the Queensland Government's preparedness to look seriously for the causes.

Friends of the Earth is also calling for the current enquiry announced by Federal and State Governments to widen its terms of reference to include all aspects of industrial development in the region.

He also called for the State Government to pay compensation to the local fishing industry, which has collapsed because of this crisis.

"This is an issue of concern to all Australians who believe the Great Barrier Reef should not be sacrificed for fleeting economic development.

"The coal seam gas industry, once again, has demonstrated what a detrimental impact it is having on rural and regional Queensland."

Honolulu - A change in the programmed entertainment at last night's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gala left a few world leaders slack-jawed, though most seemed not to notice that anything was amiss.

During the gala dinner, renowned Hawaiian guitarist Makana, who performed at the White House in 2009, opened his suit jacket to reveal a home-made “Occupy with Aloha” T-shirt. Then, instead of playing the expected instrumental background music, he spent almost 45 minutes repeatedly singing his protest ballad released earlier that day. The ballad, called “We Are the Many,” includes lines such as “The lobbyists at Washington do gnaw.... And until they are purged, we won't withdraw,” and ends with the refrain: “We'll occupy the streets, we'll occupy the courts, we'll occupy the offices of you, till you do the bidding of the many, not the few.”

Those who could hear Makana’s message included Presidents Barack Obama of the United States of America, Hu Jintao of China, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, and over a dozen other heads of state.

“At first, I was worried about playing ‘We Are The Many,’” said Makana. “But I found it odd that I was afraid to sing a song I’d written, especially since I'd written it with these people in mind.”

The gala was the most secure event of the summit. It was held inside the Hale Koa hotel, a 72-acre facility owned and controlled by the US Defense Department; the site was fortified with an additional three miles of fencing constructed solely for the APEC summit.

Makana was surprised that no one objected to him playing the overtly critical song.

“I just kept doing different versions,” he said.

“I must’ve repeated ‘the bidding of the many, not the few’ at least 50 times, like a mantra. It was surreal and sobering.”

Makana’s new song is inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has taken root in cities worldwide. Last Saturday, eight protesters were arrested when they refused to leave the Occupy Honolulu encampment at Thomas Square Park. Occupy Honolulu has joined other groups, including Moana Nui, to protest the APEC meeting, and while Makana performed, hundreds of people protested outside.

After facing large-scale protests in South Korea, Australia, Peru, and Japan, APEC moved this year's event to Hawaii, the most isolated piece of land on earth. In preparation for the meeting, homeless families were moved out of sight and millions of taxpayer dollars were spent on security—including over $700,000 on non-lethal weapons for crowd control. In a bitter twist, the multi-million dollar security plans backfired when a local Hawaiian man was shot and killed by a 27-year-old DC-based federal agent providing security for dignitaries.

Makana's action was assisted by the Yes Lab and Occupy The Boardroom. In recent weeks Occupy protestors have been showing up at corporate events, headquarters and even on the doorsteps of those in power.

"Makana really raised the bar by delivering the Occupy message inside what is probably the most secure place on the planet right now," said Mike Bonanno of the Yes Lab.

"My Uncle taught me to feel out the audience and play what my heart tells me," said Makana.

"That's what I did tonight."

 

We Are The Many - Makana

While US President Barack Obama is addressing the Australian parliament, Christine Assange will be on the lawns with anti-war protesters opposing the Australia-US alliance.

Sydney’s STOP THE WAR COALITION are hiring a bus that will leave Sydney at 7am (meeting time is 6.30am) to arrive in Canberra at 10.30am and return in the evening of the same day. The cost will be $30-$40. Contact details here. The group will protest against the proposed “joint operation of military bases in Australia, attacks on WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, and the US government’s persecution and torture of accused WikiLeaks whistleblower, Bradley Manning.”

Linking up onsite with a number of other groups, they will “join the movement of the 99% opposing wars for the 1%”.

Mrs Assange specifically wishes to question what she calls “arse-covering” by the Australian government for the US, in respect to WikiLeaks. She claims that for the sake of the US alliance, it has failed in its obligations to an Australian citizen.

...

What Mrs Assange wants is fairly simple; that her son be permitted to answer Swedish Prosecutor Marianne Ny’s questions from the Swedish Embassy in London. It is equipped, and well practiced in setting up telecommunications for this purpose. The Prosecutor has always had this option, but refused to use it, and refused to explain why. She might feel obliged to be slightly more co-operative if our PM asked her to extend this small courtesy. It’s a maddening thought to consider, that eventually, because Ms Ny won’t Skype, Julian has to wait in solitary confinement for a year until his name is called. After all, this is still a much ado about NOTHING, criminally speaking. ...

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